To Understand the Enemy
by NedeserThul
Summary: As the Empire and Sith continue their brilliant and unpredictable attacks against the thinly stretched New Republic, Luke, Mara, Han, Leia and the government are forced to attempt to keep up with their enemies. To that end, they must learn to cooperate with new allies, maintain cohesion with their current ones and attempt to keep up with the brilliance of the Grand Admiral Thrawn.
1. Chapter 1: Flight from Myrkr

**Space over Myrkr aboard the _Chimaera_**

The wisp covered orange and yellow ball that was the planet Myrkr stood bright in space before the Imperial Star Destroyer _Chimaera's_ main viewport. On the bridge, Captain Gilad Pellaeon switched between the viewport and the tactical display which showed the formation of Imperial ground forces in position near the marker that indicated the base of the smuggler chieftain Talon Karrde. They had been sitting there ready for almost ten minutes and the _Chimaera_ itself had been in position for almost an hour. Everyone was waiting only for the order to attack. Captain Pellaeon stole the barest hint of a glance over his shoulder to where Grand Admiral Thrawn sat in his command chair, his hands steepled in front of his blue skin and red eyes.

As Pellaeon turned his focus back forward, the melodious and well measured voice of the Grand Admiral was heard. "A question, Captain?"

Pellaeon resisted the urge to sigh. He had been caught, of course. "No, Sir;" he replied.

"You're perhaps wondering why we haven't yet attacked?" said Thrawn, just the barest hint of amusement in his voice.

Pellaeon should have known that Thrawn would have known his mind. "Yes, sir, I was. All our forces appear to be in position."

"Our military forces, yes;" agreed Thrawn. "But not the observers I sent into Hyllyard City."

"Hyllyard City?" asked Pellaeon, perplexed by his commander's decision.

"Yes;" said Thrawn. "I find it unlikely that a man of Talon Karrde's cunning and would set up a base in the middle of a forest without also setting up security contacts with others outside the immediate area. Hyllyard City is too far from Karrde's base for anyone there to directly witness our attack; hence, any sudden flurries of activity in the city will imply the existence of a more subtle line of communication. From that we'll be able to identify Karrde's contacts and put them under long-term surveillance. Eventually, they'll lead us to him."

The Captain frowned at that. "Yes, sir; then you're not expecting to take any of Karrde's own people alive."

"On the contrary. I fully expect our forces to find an empty and abandoned base;" said Thrawn with a tight, brittle smile.

"In that case, sir, why are we attacking it?"

"For three reasons, Captain;" explained Thrawn, much like an academy instructor giving a lecture. "First, even men like Talon Karrde occasionally make mistakes. It could be that in the rush to evacuate, his base, he left some crucial bit of information behind. Second, as I've already mentioned, an attack on the base may lead us to his contacts in Hyllyard City. And third, it provides our ground forces with some badly needed field experience."

The glowing red eyes burned into Pellaeon. "Never forget, Captain, that our goal is no longer merely the pitiful rear-guard harassment of the past five years. With Mount Tantiss and out late Emperor's collection of Spaarti cylinders in our hands, the initiative is once again ours. Very soon now we'll begin the process of taking planets back from Rebellion; and for that we'll need an army every bit as well trained as the officers and crew of the Fleet."

Pellaeon had to agree, especially after the poor performance of the troops who had been sent to intercept and arrest Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker. "Understood, sir."

"Good. It's time. Signal General Covell that he may begin;" ordered Thrawn as he focused on his tactical displays.

"Yes, sir;" said the Captain, returning to his station and activating his comms unit. "This is the _Chimaera_ \- launch the attack."

* * *

 **The forests of the Planet Myrkr**

"Acknowledged, _Chimaera_ ;" said the Imperial General Covell into the mic of his combat helmet, keeping the impatience and scorn out of his voice. It was so typical and predictable for the blasted fleet people to sit up in their clean ships and their clean uniforms and dither and discuss while he and his Army unit scrambled around like hellions to get into tactical positions and then sat and waited the pleasure of those in the ships overhead to finally get around to giving the order to attack.

"This is General Corvell to all units: we've got the light. Let's go."

Acknowledgements came in and, with a shiver from the steel deck beneath him, the huge AT-AT walker was off, lumbering its ponderous way through the kilometer of forests towards the smuggler base. Ahead of the AT-AT was a pair of AT-ST scout walkers in point formation, scanning and watching for traps, ambushes, booby traps and other tricky, yet futile hazards. After commanding and directing hundreds of Imperial assaults, his awareness of the war machines under his command and the full range of their capabilities was complete.

On the command view console was a holographic view of the Imperial forces as they advanced on the smuggler's base from all sides. With the lumbering Imperial walkers were hover scouts in back stop positions, carrying full squads of Imperial army troops. The whole assault was moving forward in good order. However, Corvell noticed that there is a break in the northern formation - scout walkers lagging in what appears to be a particularly thick section of woods. Because of that, the whole formation was lagging. With a scowl, the general commed the AT-AT command frequency. "Unit Two, bring it up."

"We're trying, sir;" came the reply, slightly crackly and tinny due to the strange dampening effect caused by the high metal content of the planet's flora. "We're encountering some thick vine clusters that are slowing down our scout walkers."

Covell resisted the urge to roll his eyes and snarl, electing instead to patiently ask, "It is effecting your AT-AT any?"

"No, sir, but I wanted to keep the flank together-"

"Pattern coherence is a fine goal during academy maneuvers, Major;" said Covell rather tersely. "But not at the expense of an overall battle plan. If the At-St's can't keep up, leave them behind."

"Yes, sir;" came the reply, enthusiasm that tried to hide abashment.

Covell broke the connection and snorted. Grand Admiral Thrawn was certainly correct about one thing: if they were going to take the fight to the New Republic in earnest, they desperately needed more experience and seasoning. With satisfaction, he watched as the two hover-scouts moved forward and took the positions formerly held by the AT-ST's and the northern flank closed up. Yes, the raw material was there, it just needed to refinement.

The proximity warning beeped. "Status?" asked the General.

"All weapons charged and ready;" said the gunner.

The driver took a quick glance over his instruments again. "No indications of resistance, active or passive."

"Stay alert;" said the general as he activated his comms unit. "All units, move in."

Simultaneously, four AT-AT's broke through the trees and into the open. The scout vehicles and AT-ST's fanned out, encircling the darkened and quiet buildings. According to the sensors, there were only two still-working energy sources - in the main building and in one of the barracks structures. But there were no weapons, no energy fields, no sensors in place. Everything in the area, with the exception of a cluster in the main building, was utterly devoid of life.

"I'm getting approximately twenty life-form readings in that main building, General;" advised the walker commander from unit four, "all in the central building."

"They don't register as human though;" announced the driver of Corvell's own walker.

The general grunted and said, "Perhaps they're shielded. Let's find out. Assault Squads: go."

The hoverscouts deployed their squads - groups of eight army soldiers. Four rushed forward while four remained by the scouts, ready to provide cover fire. They cleared each building and barracks as they came to it, covering one another in leap frog-like movements. It was clear from their micro-hesitations, the breathing in their mics and the barely detectable trembling in their voices that these soldiers were still green but even so, they had the potential.

As each building and room and area was cleared, Corvell intently watched the sensors and listened to the open comms. Finally, the officer in charge commed him. "Sir, this is Lieutenant Barse. We've secured the target area. There's no one here."

His suspicions confirmed, Covell nodded, "Very good, Lieutenant. How does it look?"

"Like they pulled out in a hurry, sir; they left a fair amount of stuff behind but it looks pretty much like junk;" replied the Lieutenant.

"That's for the scanning crew to decide. Any indication of booby traps or other unpleasant surprises?"

"None at all, sir. Oh- and those life forms were nothing but these long, furry animals living on the tree growing up through the center of the roof."

Corvell nodded. Ysalamiri they were called. Thrawn and Lord Diabolis had been making big deals about them for whatever reason. The general was sure that, at some point, the Grand Admiral would get around to informing him what the blasted things were for. "Set up a defensive honeycomb. Signal the scanning crew when you're ready. And get comfortable. The Grand Admiral wants this place taken apart, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

* * *

 **Space over Myrkr aboard the _Wild Karrde_**

"Very good, General;" said the lieutenant, his voice barely understandable, even with the heavy amplification and computer scrubbing. "Proceed with the dismantling."

Seated at the _Wild Karrde's_ helm, the orange skinned Twi'lek Rianna Saren turned to the man and woman standing behind her. "Well there you have it. They're raiding the base. Are we heading out?"

Karrde seemed to smile slightly. "Do we have somewhere to be Rianna?"

"Yeah we do;" she muttered, "anywhere but here."

"I think it would be best to wait just a little longer to be sure we didn't leave anything about Rishi base behind."

"We were pretty thorough, Karrde;" said Aves.

Karrde cocked an eyebrow. "Are you willing to stake your life on that assessment?"

"I am; at least more than I am willing to risk it hanging around here, quite literally behind Grand Admiral Thrawn;" said Rianna rather pointedly. She nervously stroked her prosthetic lekku while she observed the Star Destroyer over the crest of the asteroid that the _Wild Karrde_ was hiding behind. "Besides, I checked and double checked everything and so did Shada. There is nothing down there about Rishi."

Shada D'ukal nodded. "I have to agree with her, Karrde. What if they spot us? Hiding behind asteroids like this is one of the oldest tricks on the list."

Karrde chuckled and replied, "I doubt that the possibility would even occur to them. The average man running from the likes of Grand Admiral Thrawn isn't likely to stop running until he is a good deal farther away than this."

"Than the average man is really smart;" said Shada.

"Also makes me wonder why _we_ are still here;" grumbled Rianna as she worked with some of the instruments, setting the sensors up to the highest sensitivity and checking that the engine prestart sequence was keyed in and ready.

* * *

As expected, the scanning crew were fast, efficient and thorough. Indeed, in less than thirty minutes, they had covered the abandoned base and come up completely dry. As each new negative report came in, Pellaeon grimaced more and more. "Well so much for that."

It was, indeed, an excellent field exercise for their army ground forces but that's all that it really was - a field exercise. He turned to Thrawn. "Unless your observers picked up any reactions in Hyllyard City."

"There was a small twitch, as a matter of fact, cut off almost before it began, but I think the implications are clear;" said the Grand Admiral, his eyes still on his displays.

"Yes sir," said Pellaeon, "Shall I have Surveillance begin equipping a long-term ground team?"

"Patient, captain;" chided Thrawn mildly, still gazing at his instruments. "It may not be necessary, after all. Key for a midrange scan, and tell me what you see."

With a frown, Pellaeon and called for the appropriate process. The readout showed the planet Myrkr itself and the TIE formations on patrol. Other than that, there was really only one other thing. "You mean that little asteroid out there, sir?"

"Yes that's the one. Nothing remarkable about it, is there? No, don't do a sensor focus. We wouldn't want to prematurely flush our quarry, would we?"

Pellaeon frowned and looked at the sensor data. "Our quarry? With all due respect sir, I don't see any indication that anything's out there."

Thrawn agreed. "I don't either, but it's the only sizable cover available for nearly ten million kilometers around Myrkr. There's really no other place for Karrde to watch our operation from."

The captain pursed his lips. "Your permission, Admiral, but I doubt Karrde is foolish enough for us to sit around waiting for us to arrive."

Thrawn's glowing red eyes narrowed. "You forget, Captain, that I've met the man. More important, I've seen the sort of artwork he collects. No, he's out there. I'm sure of it. Talon Karrde is not merely a smuggler, you see. Perhaps not even primarily a smuggler; his real love in not in goods but information. More than anything in the galaxy, he craves knowledge... and the knowledge of what we have or have not gained here is too valuable a gem for him to pass up."

Pellaeon studied his superior, thinking it a tenuous leap of logic at best. However, he had seen too many of these leaps of logic turn out to bare fruit to be dismissive. "Shall I order a TIE squadron to investigate, sir?"

"As I said before, patience, Captain;" replied Thrawn. "Even in sensor stealth mode with all engines shut down, he'll have made sure he can power up and escape before any attack force could reach him. Or rather, any attack force from the _Chimaera_."

A stray memory clicked: Thrawn, reaching for his comm just as Pellaeon as giving the ground forces the order to attack. "You sent a message to the rest of the fleet, timing it against my attack order to mask the transmission."

Thrawn's blue-black eyebrows lifted just a fraction. "Very good, Captain;" he said, "very good indeed."

"Thank you, sir;" he said, feeling warmth inside him - until the sensor suddenly picked up a sudden power spike.

"It would seem that Karrde has seen enough;" said Thrawn.

He was correct. The action IV bulk freighter was leaving for open space.

* * *

"Rianna, what are you doing?" demanded Aves.

"I'm getting us out of here. We've seen everything and confirmed that they didn't find anything. It's foolhardy at this point. Karrde can fire me later;" said Rianna, not even bother to look at Karrde.

Aves looked helplessly at Shada. The dark haired woman just lifted her hands. "Don't look at me! I'm just Karrde's bodyguard."

He turned to Karrde. Karrde sighed and said, "I suppose that there is no real point in staying. Aves, lightspeed calculations. Take the easiest course setting that's not anywhere toward Rishi; we'll stop and reset later."

Aves looked like he was about to object but instead, elected to comply. They kept the asteroid between them and the Star Destroyer. Just as the calculations to the jump to lightspeed were finished and the engines were ready, an interdictor cruiser dropped out of lightspeed. "Look at that;" said Rianna casually, "looks like Thrawn suspected we were here. Making the jump now."

* * *

The bridge was silent as the freighter disappeared in a flicker of pseudo motion. For several long moments of silence, Grand Admiral Thrawn stood at the forward viewport. "Interesting; apparently there is someone aboard that ship whose survival instinct and protective nature for Karrde or themselves is stronger than their respect for Karrde's thirst for information. I think it's critical that we learn more about his employees."

"Yes sir." said Pellaeon.

"In the mean time, Captain, we do have other important concerns, such as finding new warships. Have there been any recent responses to our invitation?"

Pellaeon pulled his mind from the problem of Karrde to the problem of warships, pulling the comms logs and giving the more recent ones a quick scan. "Nothing particularly interesting, Admiral. Eight of the fifteen groups I contacted have expressed interest, though none were willing to commit themselves to anything specific. We're still waiting on the others."

Thrawn considered that and nodded, "We'll give them a few weeks. If there have been no results after that, we'll make the invitation a little more compulsory."

Pellaeon nodded before stating, "There has also been another communication from Wayland."

Thrawn nodded. "I see. Has Lord Diabolis sent a report from the Mount Tantiss operation?"

"Yes, sir. Everything is going smoothly but most of his report is concerning his special units for killing the Skywalkers. Apparently there were some drawbacks."

Thrawn nodded. "When working with technology that old, it isn't surprising. But I have confidence his technicians will figure it out. Those droids are certainly works of art. The next time he sends a report, offer him our help. I doubt that he will accept the offer but it can't hurt to offer."

"Yes, Admiral. Is there anything else that you would like me to convey to the Dark Lord?"

Thrawn thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "That will due just fine, Captain. Except reiterate out gratitude for his loaning of his Dark Jedi to assist us in the attack."

"Of course, Sir;" said Pellaeon.

"In the mean time, Captain, tell General Covell to return his forces to the _Chimaera_. I want his report on file in three hours. Twelve hours after that, I want his recommendations as to the three best infantry troopers and two best mechanized operators in the assault. Those five men will be transferred to the Mount Tantiss Operation and given immediate transport to Wayland. While we await the general's return, you will contact the long term surveillance team in Hyllyard City. Tell them to get comfortable."

"Understood, sir."

Thrawn gave a smile. "It's a large galaxy, Captain, but even Talon Karrde can run for only so long. Eventually, he'll have to come to rest."


	2. Chapter 2: The Shadow's Lengthen

**Wayland - The Throne Room of Mount Tantiss**

Darth Diabolis stood at the massive window of the throne room, looking out over the planet. Vast forests stretched as far as the eye could see. The local natives had completely left them be and Diabolis had ordered his people to do the same, as had Grand Admiral Thrawn. It was a beautiful temperate world and the mountain was an impenetrable fortress - at least, of course, impenetrable from the ground. In his mind, Diabolis imagined formations and fortifications and artillery emplacements trying to attack the mountain. With the number of weapons emplacements and the shield generator protecting it, a ground assault would be pointless. Thanks to the shield generators, trying to bombard the place with a- what did Thrawn call it? Ah yes, a Base-Delta-Zero. The complete shelling of a section of a planet would do nothing but end innocent lives, something that the New Republic, and more importantly the Jedi, would never order that.

Behind him, the doors to the throne room hissed open. Without even turning, Diabolis sensed his apprentice and lover. "Lady Silri, how goes the operations?"

Lean, wiry arms wrapped around his shoulders and chest and a low, hissing purr of the Nightsister Sith Witch was heard. "My Lord, the operations have not much changed. They have set up a temporary override to avoid losing more tech teams but, for the most part, the assassin droids refuse to recognize you as Darth Revan's heir. It would seem, my love, that one of them seems to be the leader and that they have a strange hive-mind type programming. If we can break that programming, we can get some progress."

Diabolis reveled in the heat of her body against his. "I take it that our tech specialists are working on it right now?"

"Of course, my Lord. They expect to make progress within the week."

Diabolis turned in her arms and kissed her before asking, "Anything else to report, my love?"

Rolling her eyes just slightly, Silri replied quickly and impatiently. "The cloning facilities are working very well, producing Imperial stormtroopers, techs, pilots, crew men and so on at rates exceeding the Grand Admiral's expectations. Is there any other business we need to get into?"

"Just one;" chuckled the Dark Lord. "The acolytes?"

"Their training is progressing and they are proving themselves quite powerful and skilled. Your Master, Darth Revan, would be pleased, I think."

Darth Diabolis smiled, allowing the flattery to effect him. "I like to believe that. And now, my beautiful and fierce Silri, that concludes business - for the moment."

"Finally;" she murmured before kissing him. After a long and passionate series of kisses, Silri looked at the empty throne, the throne once used by Emperor Palpatine, the most powerful Sith Lord in recent history. With a very wicked smile, she leaned in and whispered, "That throne."

Diabolis looked at her, slightly confused, "Excuse me?"

"Go sit on that throne, Diabolis. I want to take you on that throne."

Now that idea excited the Dark Lord and he growled, "No, my love, I will be taking you"

"Whatever sustains your male pride, my love;" she simply purred.

* * *

 **Coruscant - The Imperial Palace**

On landing pads eight and nine of the Imperial Palace, the _Millennium Falcon_ and the _Jade Star_ set down with small bumps. In the corridor between the two pads, Han Solo met his wife, Leia Organa Solo with a big hug. "Thank the force you're back;" she whispered to him.

Luke and Mara stood side by side and hand in hand with small smiles on their faces. It warmed them when their in-laws were happily back together. Han was hugging her gingerly, not wanting to press her midsection too hard. "Hi, Sweetheart. I'm glad to see you too."

After ending the hug, Leia quickly hugged Luke and Mara as well before saying, "Come on; we have to go."

As they made their way into the palace, Chewbacca stood there with his bowcaster slung over his shoulder. Han smiled at his oldest friend. "Hey, Chewie; thanks for looking after her."

Chewie growled his greeting - which was strangely non-committal. Normally, he would hug Han, Luke and Mara but this time, for whatever reason, he seemed slightly distant. This caused Han to eye him almost suspiciously. "What did I miss?" he asked Leia.

"Not much;" she said as she lead them down the corridors and into the palace proper. After that first big flurry of accusations, Fey'lya's apparently decided to cool things down. He's talked the Council into letting him take come of Ackbar's internal security duties, but he's been behaving more like a caretaker than a new administrator. He's hinted strongly that he'd be willing to take charge of the Supreme Command, but he hasn't done any real pushing in that direction."

"Of course;" snorted Mara. "That would easily be too obvious, not to mention make people suspicious of him."

"Not to mention that such a drastic change, on top of the accusations of treason against Ackbar, would probably cause panic, something that wouldn't help that smarmy Bothan. The accusations are already a huge bite to chew."

Leia and Luke both agreed. The former said, "The good news is that we should have at least a little breathing room and figure out the whole bank think."

Mara frowned. "I've been thinking about that. If you think the Council will approve it, I could look into the bank thing and try to figure out how it happened. In truth, do to my advancing pregnancy, I've been thinking of doing a sweep of the current government and, looking for corruption and such. Darth Diabolis is still out there and he has taken over what was left of the Zann Consortium. I wouldn't be surprised that he has inserted some Defilers into our government. Not only that, considering the current situation with leaks in the government, I'm hoping they'll give me a green light."

The others nodded. Han looked at his wife. "What are the details on that, by the way? All you told us is that some routine bank check had found a big chunk of money in one of Ackbar's accounts.:

"It turns out that it wasn't just a routine check;" murmured Leia. "There was a sophisticated electronic break-in at the central clearing bank on Coruscant the morning of the Sluis Van attack, with several big accounts being hit. The investigators ran a check on all the accounts the bank served and discovered that there'd been a large transfer into Ackbar's account that same morning from the central bank on Palanhi. You familiar with Palanhi?"

"Everyone's familiar with Palanhi;" snorted Han. "Little crossroads planet with an overblown idea of their own importance."

Mara chuckled. "They've tended to think themselves neutral and able to play all sides of any current galactic game."

"True, but the point is that the central bank there claims that the money didn't come from Palanhi itself and must have just been transferred through them. So far, our people haven't been able to backtrack it any further."

Mara smiled and cracked her knuckled. "I'll take a crack at it - providing that I gain Council approval of course."

That last part she added after catching Leia's warning glare.

They were quiet for awhile before Han said, "I'll bet Fey'lya's got some ideas where it came from."

"The ideas aren't unique to him," Leia sighed. "He was just the first one to voice them, that's all."

"And to make himself a few points at Ackbar's expense;" growled Han. "Where've thy put Ackbar, anyway? The old prison section?"

Leia shook her head. "He's under a sort of loose house arrest in his quarters while the investigation is under way. More evidence that Fey'lya's trying not to ruffle anymore feather than he has to."

"Or else that he knows full well there isn't enough here to hang a stunted Jawa from;" Han countered. "Has he got anything on Ackbar besides the bank thing?"

Leia smiled wanly, "Just the near-fiasco at Sluis Van. And the fact that it was Ackbar who went all those war ships out there in the first place."

"Oh come on!" snapped Mara. "Those war ships were sent to help with relief effort from another Imperial attack! How was Ackbar to know that it was a ploy developed by a Grand Admiral?"

Leia froze. "What?"

"It get's worse;" sighed Luke. "We'll tell you all about it later. Where are we going anyway?"

Leia grimaced as they left the Grand Corridor and headed towards the auditorium off the main council chamber. "Wait a minute;" said Han, while Luke and Mara just sighed in resignation. "Now?"

"I'm sorry but Mon Mothma insisted. You're the first people back who were actually present during the Sluis Van attack and there are millions of questions they want to ask you about it."

To their surprise, Mara gave a tight smile. "Good; I have some news they need to learn as it is."

Han was muttering something about sending See-Threepio out of the _Falcon_ first.

The room had been rearranged completely. Long rows of seats were set similar to a university lecture hall with Mon Mothma sitting at a lectern at the front of the room. Han growled again. "Who idea was this?" asked Han as he, Luke, Mara and Leia began heading towards what looked suspiciously like a witness stand next to the lectern.

"Mon Mothma set it up;" she murmured. "I'd be willing to bet it was Fey'lya's idea, though."

"Right;" growled Han moodily. "So who goes first?"

"Get ready, because the slippery, smarmy fuzzball is going to milk this for everything it's worth;" whispered Mara.

"And be careful;" added Leia, giving especially meaningful glances at Han and Mara.

Both of them gave her innocent glances that were as transparent as clear water. "So;" Han asked again, "who goes first?"

"Captain Solo," said Mon Mothma, "please step up to the stand."

Han nodded and the others sat in the first row of seats. Han, feeling decidedly uncomfortable, stepped up to the seat. "Do you want me sworn in or anything?" he asked awkwardly.

"That won't be necessary, Captain Solo;" she said, her voice formal and a little strained. "Please sit down. There are some questions the Council would like to ask you about the recent events at the Sluis Van shipyards."

Han sat and took note of Fey'lya and his Bothan aides. They were next to Leia and the others in the front row. Mon Mothma cleared her throat. "First of all, Captain Solo, we would like you to describe your role in the Sluis Van attack. When you arrived, what happened subsequently-that sort of thing."

Han nodded. "We got there pretty much as the battle was started, came in just ahead of the Star Destroyers. We picked up a call from Wedge - that's Wing Commander Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron - staying that there were TIE fighters loose in the shipyards-"

"Excuse me;" interrupted Fey'lya smoothly. "Just who is the 'we' here?"

Han suppressed his glare at the Bothan who sat there blandly as always, "My crew consisted of Lando Calrission and two droids - you want their serial numbers?"

A low rustle of barely existent amusement went through the gathered beings. Fey'lya fur flattened. "Thank you, no;" he replied levelly.

Han continued, "Rogue Squadron was engaged with approximately forty TIE fighters and fifty stolen mole miners that had somehow been smuggle into the shipyards. We gave them some assistance with the fighters, figured out that the Imperials were using the mole miners to try and steal some of the capital ships that had been pressed into cargo duty, and were able to stop them. That's about it."

Fey'lya's fur rippled. "You are too modest, Captain Solo. According to the reports we've received here, it was you and Calrissian who managed to single-handedly thwart the Empire's scheme."

Han braced himself. Here it came. It was true that they had stopped the Imperials absconding with the ships but they had been forced to render the ships practically useless to do so, frying the nerve centers of forty capital war ships. Defensively, he said, "I'm sorry about wrecking the ships but would you rather the Imperials have taken them intact?"

"Really, Captain Solo;" Fey'lya replied smoothly, "I have no particular quarrel with your method of stopping the Empire's attempt at grand larceny, costly though it might have been. Within your constraints, you and the others succeeded brilliantly."

Han frowned, not believing a word of it but unable to understand where the Bothan's game was. "Thank you, counciler," he elected to say for lack of any better response.

"None of this to say that the Empire's near-victory are not important;" said Fey'lya, looking around the audience chamber. "On the contrary. At best, they speak of serious misjudgments on the part of our military commanders. At worst, they speak of treason."

Han glanced at his family. Mara was rolling her eyes so hard it would surely cause a migraine. Luke and Leia just looked grim. Speaking quickly, Han said, "With all due respect Councilor, what happened at Sluis Van was not Ackbar's fault. The whole operation-"

"Excuse me, Captain Solo;" interrupted Fey'lya, "and with all due respect to you, let me point out that the reason that those capital ships were sitting at Sluis Van in the first place, undermanned and vulnerable, was that Admiral Ackbar had ordered them there."

"There isn't anything like treason involved," Han continued doggedly. "We already know that Empires got a tap into our communications-"

"And who's responsible for such failures in security?" Fey'lya shot back. "Once again, the blame falls firmly on Admiral Ackbar's shoulders."

Han was losing his temper and losing it fast. "Well then you-"

"Mon Mothma," said Mara, standing and cutting Han off, earning herself a pair of glares in the process. "There are others who need to make there reports so, before the devolves into another Bothan power grab-" that earned her a nasty glare from both Leia and Fey'lya, "are there any more questions for Captain Solo?"

"I strenuously object to such accusations;" Fey'lya all but spat. "My only concern is the safety of the New Republic."

Mara's brilliant emerald eyes widened. "Well my apologies, Councilor Fey'lya. Consider that statement withdrawn."

Mon Mothma gave a severe look. "This is not a trial, Jedi Jade Skywalker. Such remarks cannot be withdrawn as it if were criminal court case."

"My mistake;" said Mara. "The last exchange must have confused me. I was under the assumption that the Admiral was on trial - which would be highly irregular since he isn't even here with a litigator to defend himself, though Captain Solo is doing an admirable job. So, are there any more questions for Captain Solo?"

Mon Mothma looked exasperated and perturbed as she looked around. None were forth coming so she looked at Han. "You may step down, Captain. Jedi Jade Skywalker, you may have a seat."

"With pleasure, Mon Mothma;" replied Mara smoothly.

As she stepped up to the chair, she radiated confidence and sat down, gazing at Fey'lya as if expecting the questions to come from him first. To her surprise, they wound up coming from Leia first. "Jedi Jade Skywalker, with your Imperial background, could you identify the Imperial ships that attacked the Sluis Van shipyards?"

Mara furrowed her brow. That certainly wasn't a question she had expected to be asked. "I recognized three of the five Star Destroyers, yes: the _Chimaera_ under Captain Gilad Pellaeon, the _Death's Head_ under Captain Harbid and the _Stormhawk_ , though who it's commander is, I'm not sure. There were also numerous Carrack Cruisers and Strike Cruisers but I didn't get a good count of them."

"What does this have to do with anything?" asked Fey'lya, just a trace of impatience in his voice.

Leia looked at him with strained patience. "We want to know about the attack on Sluis Van. I think the commander of the enemy task force is an important piece of information." She turned back to Mara and asked, "Which of those captains do you think was directing the assault?"

Mara shook her head. "None of them, Councilor Organa Solo;" she replied, "judging by the boldness of the attack, its creativity and other tidbits of information gathered over the passed several weeks, I believe that one Grand Admiral Thrawn was leading the Imperial attack."

The air grew chilled and a low murmur was heard throughout the chamber. Mon Mothma looked at her very seriously. "Are you sure of that, Jedi Jade Skywalker?"

"According to former General Lando Calrissian, Captain Solo, they saw a blue-skinned being in a white Grand Admiral's uniform and with a Grand Admiral's insignia bar. That can only be one being and that being is going to be the most dangerous we have faced since the Emperor himself lived. There is more, too, but I think that it should be saved for a council session."

Mon Mothma shook her head. "It would be best that we lay everything out right now, if you please, Jedi."

"As you wish. Evidence indicates that Grand Admiral Thrawn has allied himself to Darth Diabolis, the Dark Lord of the Sith."

Another low murmur came from the gathered beings. Mon Mothma leaned back, looking weary and haggard. "Perhaps you should start from the beginning, Jedi Jade Skywalker."

"Yes but if Jedi Skywalker could also be free to interject, we will more likely get a complete story."

Mon Mothma nodded her assent and Mara began. She told of their near-capture by an Imperial Star Destroyer, their hasty and costly hyperspace jump, and their rescue from deep space by the Talon Karrde. When that name was mentioned, Borsk Fey'lya hissed, "Oh, do you mean the same Talon Karrde you failed to capture back during the Warlord X1's clone crisis?"

"Yes that one," said Mara. "And we didn't fail, we simply didn't try. May I continue, Councilor Fey'lya?"

With a curt motion from the Bothan, she continued, explaining their subsequent capture, at which point the Bothan burst out again. "Do we need any more proof that this smuggler chief is not our ally? Not only does he refuse to give the New Republic quite possibly vital information, but he captured and held two Jedi Knights captive."

Mara massaged her temples. "Well, considering that you and Admiral Ackbar wanted to run him through an interrogation, it really shouldn't surprise. Shut up, Councilor! Save your melodrama for when I'm done, please."

Without even giving him the chance to retort, she continued, explaining her and Luke's capture and escape from Myrkr and their trek through the forest before finally being allowed to go and heading to Sluis Van where the previous mentioned attack happened. A long silence followed her recitation.

Borsk Fey'lya gave a strange noise in his throat and said, "We accounted for all the Grand Admirals already."

"I saw him myself;" said Han from his seat. "Besides, Mara can positively identify him."

"Did she see him?" asked the Bothan.

"I did not but I know exactly who Captain Solo described as I already said;" replied Mara.

Suddenly, something dawned on her - neither Kanan Jarrus nor Galen Marek were present. Turning a stern glare on Mon Mothma, she asked calmly, "May I ask where Masters Jarrus and Marek are, Mon Mothma?"

There was a brief silence before Mon Mothma replied, "They were not summoned to this meeting."

Luke's blue eyes widened. "Why not?"

"Quite frankly, Jedi Skywalker," answered Fey'lya, his voice just slightly smug, "they are no longer involved with either the government or the military. There is no true reason for them to be present."

Luke looked at Leia. She had a decidedly uncomfortable look on her face. "I see;" he murmured. "I'll be sure to let them know that."

"Let's return to the topic at hand;" said Mon Mothma, "Jedi Jade Skywalker, please describe this alleged Grand Admiral."

"How can she?" asked Fey'lya before Mara could answer. "She did not see him."

"But I have before. He was tall, with blue skin, blue-black hair and glowing red eyes. Does that fit the being you saw, Captain Solo?"

"Down to the glowing red eyes;" murmured Han.

Fey'lya snorted. "The Emperor was highly xenophobic, if you'll remember. Why would he make an exception with this supposed Grand Admiral?"

"Because even the Emperor realized that Thrawn was far too valuable to waste;" replied Mara. "He's tactically brilliant. In fact, I would guess that the assault on the Bpfassh to set up for the attack and attempted theft of Sluis Van, knowing our response would be to send massive amounts of relief to the Bpfasshi. During extended campaigns, Thrawn was famous for ploys like that. In fact, you can ask Master Jarrus, Jedi Bridger and anyone who lived through the Lothal Siege. They'll be able to tell you about being on the receiving end of Thrawn's curled fist."

There was silence. "Well then;" asked Fey'lya, "where did Thrawn go?"

"After Lothal, he was summoned to Coruscant and his failure, the only one he ever had on his record if I'm not mistaken, coupled with backing the wrong political party, earned him a sentence to the Unknown Region for a mapping expedition."

"So much for the Emperor not wasting resources;" muttered Fey'lya.

Mara glared at him. "It was during that time that the Death Star was nearing completion. Grand Moff Tarkin, Director Krennic and several others pushed for Thrawn's exile, being very xenophobic themselves and wanting their new weapon to be the centerpiece of the Emperor's focus. Palpatine thought that, with the first in his new line of battle stations, Thrawn was no longer needed."

Mon Mothma cleared her throat. "Council Research will be directed to search the records for this Grand Admiral. In the mean time, we must continue our questioning in regards to Sluis Van. Is there anything else, Jedi Jade Skywalker?"

* * *

Mara and Luke walked out of the chamber. "Let's get to the castle;" murmured Mara. "Kanan and Galen are going to want to hear this."

Luke nodded as they made for the landing pad where the _Jade Star_ was birthed. Within minutes, they were in the air and heading towards what had once been Darth Vader's Coruscant sanctuary. Upon landing, there were quite a few people waiting for them. Many relieved expressions were seen. As soon as they reached the bottom of the ramp, many of the their fellow Jedi Knights and Jedi students crowded around them. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Mara, how are you?"

Luke smiled even as he called, "Jedi, please, we have plenty of time to catch up but first we need to speak to Kanan and Galen. Ezra, where are you- Ah! There you are. Go get Sabine, Hera and Zeb and meet us in the main conference chamber. This is important."

Ezra nodded and hurried off to do as Luke asked. It wasn't long before Luke and Mara sat across from Galen Marek and Kanan Jarrus. Sabine Wren, Mandalore of the warrior clans of the Mandalorians, Hera Syndulla, retired General and wife to Kanan Jarrus, and Garazeb Orrelios, a male Lasat, lounged around the room. Ezra was next to Luke as they waited for the Masters' response to the Skywalkers' report.

Kanan sighed and leaned back. "Grand Admiral Thrawn has returned to the galaxy proper - this isn't good."

"What's worse, he's allied with Diabolis. The situation may be far worse than we realize;" said Galen, rubbing his head.

Hera didn't seem too bothered by it. "We beat him once, though it was a costly victory. In fact, it nearly cost us you, my love;" she said, indicating Kanan. "but we still defeated him. Now there are many more of us and we are far better armed, not to mention your Jedi. We can beat him again."

Mara smiled at the green skinned Twi'lek woman. Hear was still strikingly beautiful and formidable. "The problem is that Thrawn is allied with the Sith. That means that he has a small army of Dark Jedi to level against us. If you combine Thrawn's brilliance and Diabolis' Dark Jedi, we have an enemy the like of which we never faced before."

Ezra snorted. "It can't be worse than when we faced Tyber Zann and Diabolis together."

"Oh yes it can;" assured Mara. "Believe me, Ezra - this crisis is going to be the most decisive since the battle of the second Death Star was destroyed."

They were all silent for some time before Kanan said, "It's good that you're back, you two. The apprentices need your teaching so hopefully you won't be called away or feel the need to run off again. I'll send a transmission to Mon Mothma offering whatever help we can to advise and assist in this conflict. If she rejects our offer, however, we will have no choice but to stand down."

"Or at least, no choice but to appear to stand down;" said Galen, running a hand over his very short, very rough hair. "If we come up with the right reasons, we can spread out and keep our senses alert for movements - by Thrawn or by Diabolis and their forces."

Mara looked skeptical. "It won't be that easy, Galen. Thrawn would never open himself up to that kind of observation."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

The unfortunate truth is that she did not. Kanan sighed. "We'll gather all of our Jedi Knights together. Kyle will be back in another day or two with his kids and we'll be able to come up with something. In the mean time, I'm sure that you two are exhausted and could use some rest."

Mara lifted a slender hand. "There is one other thing, Master. I've made the decision that I'm not going to be leaving Coruscant for awhile - at least not until I give birth unless it is utterly vital that I do so. Therefore, when you send the transmission to Mon Mothma, offer my services in looking into Ackbar's accounts or anything else she may wish. I would even be happy to assist intelligence in searching out whatever this leak in security might be."

Kanan nodded with a smile. "I think that both staying here and offering such help is a good idea. I'll be sure to mention it. Now go on and rest."

As Luke, Mara and the others departed, Galen looked at the older man. "What do you think, Kanan?"

The blind Jedi Master sighed. "I'm thinking that I wish Rahm was here but if wishes were starships, our fleet would be larger. At this point, we need to be careful. It's become clear that there are some in the New Republic government that don't trust us. We need to know who they are and try to discover why."

"Agreed;" said Galen, standing to his feet. "In the mean time, the apprentices need training. I'll go check on their progress."

Kanan stood and sensed his younger friend departing. Moments later, Hera stepped in. Wordlessly, she moved into his arms and murmured. "Grand Admiral Thrawn, back and after us again. I had fervently hoped that he had died in the Unknown Regions, especially since we never ran across him during our little foray into it."

"The Unknown Regions are vast, Hun. It's no surprise that we didn't find any evidence of him. You seemed confident enough earlier."

Hera smiled faintly. "That was for everyone else's benefit and purely out of habit. I'm terrified."

Kanan kissed her before saying, "Well no need for that yet. This conflict isn't over and most likely won't be quickly. Even Thrawn made his share of mistakes."

Even so, there was dark sense of foreboding, a disturbance in the force the like of which he hadn't felt since the dark stalkers had chased Task Force Phoenix into the Unknown Regions.


	3. Chapter 3: Parting Ways

Admiral Ackbar's eyes swiveled as he considered Han and Leia's words. "An Imperial Grand Admiral would explain a great many things."

"Mon Mothma's having Research look into it;" said Leia but they all knew that it wasn't likely that anything would be found on the Grand Admirals, much less this particular Grand Admiral.

"And you said you had a name?"

"Yeah;" said Han, "Mara, that is to say, Jedi Jade Skywalker identified him after hearing my description. From her reaction, it's even worse than it was before. Apparently Grand Admiral Thrawn is a particularly dangerous specimen."

Ackbar nodded slowly. "Thrawn; that name seems slightly familiar. Why is that?"

Leia sighed and rubbed her temples. "Well Thrawn apparently ran into Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndula before Yavin during the Lothol insurrections. Not only that but everyone's favorite one-time Imperial agent seems to know quite a bit about Grand Admiral Thrawn's career before his disappearance."

"Compile everything we can about him and bring it to the Council;" said Ackbar. "And bring a copy to me to look over as well."

"We'll do that;" promised Han.

"And we'll clear you're name, Admiral;" said Leia. "In fact, you'll be interested to hear that Mara Jade Skywalker will be looking into it herself."

The Mon Calamari gave a grunt that could have been a light chuckle. "That is comforting. If it wasn't for her, the Zann Consortium's Defiler's could quite possible _still_ be running a-muck."

Han and Leia nodded, small smiles playing about their faces as memories of the passed arose. Mara had been almost insufferable back then, smug and confident, reveling in her successes. For the most part, she simply directed operations between missions with the Jedi or with Alliance Intelligence, instructing teams and coordinate them during their hunts. Even so, a lot of the success was attributed to her.

"I read over your report of the Sluis Van attack several times and also managed to get Commander Antilles' as well ad something stood out to me. He said that the freighter that the TIE's came from read as completely empty. Not just static dampened but empty."

Han nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's right. He said that it registered as empty according to any and all scans and sensor readings. I was wondering about it, myself."

"It's much more important than you seem to think. If his report is accurate, which no doubt it is, it means that the Empire has developed a workable cloaking shield."

Han frowned. "I don't get it. The Empire, the Zann Consortium, the old Republic and even the Confederacy of Independent Systems had and have cloaking technology."

"But not like this;" sighed Ackbar. "Stealth field generators overload and shut down if a blaster is fired. The energy disrupts the field. Not only that but rapid movements cause the fields to fracture, making them shimmer which risks detection. On ships, if you so much as activate your deflector shields, the stealth field shorts out. It has its advantageous of course but also its weaknesses. I doubt it was used in this case here - unless each and every TIE Fighter has a stealth field generator powerful enough to cover it."

"Couldn't they though?" asked Han. "We've dealt with TIE's that had this kind of tech before."

"True but those Phantom TIE Fighters are very expensive. According to the report this were just regular TIE Fighters. No, I suspect that a cloaking shield was used. Cloaking shields cast a field around a ship or, in this case apparently, a part of the ship, that renders it completely invisible and undetectable. It's major downfall, other than its own high price tag, is that anyone within the field is completely blind. Communications cannot get in or out, nor can sensor or scanner readings. Apparently you can fire from them, though."

"Yeah that would be a great help if you could see anything;" snorted Han. "Anyhow, it looks like our Grand Admiral Thrawn figured out a way to employ one. That's just great."

Ackbar nodded and slumped. "We can be ready for a trick like that again. My worry is that he discovers other ways to use it."

Turning to Leia, he said, "You or Jade Skywalker must get me cleared of these charges, Councilor and as soon as possible. For all his ambition and self-confidence, Councilor Fey'lya doesn't have the tactical skills we need against a threat of this magnitude."

"We'll get you released, Admiral;" promised Leia. "We're working on it right now."

Just then, the G-2RD droid entered and said, "Excuse me; your time has expired."

Leia wished she could stay longer but, seeing as it couldn't be helped, she and Han departed after bidding the Admiral goodbye. As they made their way back to the lifts when Han murmured to her, "You haven't told me yet why you and Chewie left Kashyyyk and came back here."

Leia suppressed a wince. She knew that at some point, she would have to let Han in on the deal she made with the Noghri warrior Khabarakh but a public walk way of the Imperial Palace was not a good place to do so. Taking a deep breath, she replied, "There didn't seem any point in staying. There was another attack."

"There _what_?" snapped Han, just a little louder than either of them had wanted.

Leia soothed him quietly, "Relax, we fought it off, and I've made arrangements that should keep me safe, at least for the next couple weeks. I'll tell you more about it later when we're someplace more secure."

She could feel his suspicions and his hard looks towards her. Han was smart. He knew she was hiding something for him. But he also trusted her. "All right;" he finally murmured. "I just hop that you know what you're doing."

Leia shivered slightly, her hand going subconsciously to her belly, reaching out with the force to the two little lives within her womb. In a voice that was barely audible, she murmured, "So do I."

* * *

 **Coruscant - The Headquarters of the Jedi Order**

"Farmboy?"

Luke sighed and leaned back from the terminal. "Over here, Mara;" he called as he rubbed his temples.

A pair of small, strong hands landed on his shoulders and began to rub. "Been awhile since you checked you father's archives. What are you looking for?"

"I was hoping for any references to Thrawn but it would seem that my father decided to delete any records he had when Thrawn left the known galaxy;" sighed Luke.

Mara _hmmm'd_ as she kept rubbing his previous taut muscles. After a companionable silence, Luke chuckled and said, "You know, I should really be doing this for you."

"You do all the time;" murmured Mara. "I don't mind returning the favor occasionally. Oh, by the way, I just got word from Lando. He managed to stop some attempted capital ship hijackers. We still need to get him his ship back too, by the way."

Luke's eyes opened back up. "He did what?"

"Some fringe ship thief tried to walk away with a Corellian gunship or something and he managed to talk them down - or at least, he managed to give them a better target. I dunno. You never know with Lando."

Luke tried to get up but his wife's strong hands held him down. "It's all fine. No need to rush off. Hey, you mind if I try something on one of these terminals?"

"Yes, because that's starting to feel really good."

Mara chuckled and said, "I'll get right back to it. In the mean time, let me see-"

She began to tap away at the keys. Luke watched with mild interest until the monitor screen suddenly changed, showing a long list of files that Luke had not seen before in any of his searches. "Woah!" he said, sitting up and leaning closer. "Mara, did you just slice into that?"

"Not technically;" said Mara as she leaned back, looking quite pleased with herself. "The Emperor usually put back doors in all his computers - from the palace terminals to those on every single starship. I tried it on the terminals in Vader's personal chambers and, since it didn't work there, I figured there was no need to try the more public ones. Now, let's take a-"

"Luke? Mara? You in here?"

The Skywalkers looked at one another ruefully. "Over here, Wade;" they called together.

The large bulk of the young Jedi Knight Wade Vox came around a row of monitors. "Princess Leia asked you to meet her in her office as soon as possible. Woah! Where did you find those? I've been messing with these systems on and off since we got here and never found those!"

Mara stood and winked at him with a smirk. "That's because I know a few tricks that even your special affinity with technology can't teach you, Hon. Tell you what - I've got a list of subjects for you to look into if your willing. Take this datacard here and sift through the files I just uncovered. You do that, I'll show you my secret on how to access the back door of almost any Imperial computer or system. How does that sound?"

Wade was all but prancing in place with glee as he almost reverently took the datacard she gave give. Mara chuckled and gave him a kiss on the check as she passed him by. Luke slapped him on the back fondly as Wade plopped down, inserted the card and got to work.

As they handed to the air speeder pads, Luke softly tutted. "Mara, you can't push research work off onto Wade every time it comes up, you know. If you do, he's going to spend most of his time hiding from you whenever he hears you need a favor."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Skywalker;" Mara said briskly as she slapped the door control. "I figured it's time to trust someone with all my old access codes and Wade seems like the best fit considering his skills and affinity and what not."

"Mara," chuckled Luke as he gently wrapped an arm around her waist. "I can tell that you are only partially telling the truth. You know how?"

"I am hurt that you would even suggest such a thing, Sky-"

Luke cut her off by placing an index finger against her plump lips before saying, "Because unless you are seriously upset with me, the only time you ever call me Skywalker anymore is when you're up to some kind of mischief."

Luke removed his finger and opened the hatch for her. Mara glared at him, though the glare didn't hold much heat. With a _hmph_ , she climbed in, muttering as she did. "I cannot believe it! I, Mara Jade Skywalker, am getting predictable."

Luke laughed all the way around to the drivers side and sat down. He leaned over and kissed his beloved before saying, "Only to me, Mara. Only to me."

They sped through the regular traffic patterns towards the Imperial Palace in companionable silence, just allowing their thoughts to travel over their powerful force bond and sharing every emotion, every worry and every joy. It was almost painful to pull away as they dropped to the pad and disembarked. Arm in arm, they strode through the halls towards the offices of the High Councilors. "Well I suppose that the restful day was nice while it lasted;" murmured Mara ruefully.

Luke chuckled. "I'm surprised we had the time that we did. The Council was pleased with the intel we could gather. Hopefully the research you conned Wade into will bare even more fruit."

Mara gave a gasp of mock offense and swatted his shoulder. "I did not _con_ him, Sky- Luke! I gave him a new toy to play with."

"Right;" laughed Luke as they entered the office.

A familiar face greeted them. "Master Luke, Mistress Mara - how good to see you both! I trust that you are both well?"

Luke smiled. "We are, thanks, Threepio."

Mara patted the droids metal fondly. "Artoo says hello, by the way. He running checks on the _Star_ and the _Knight Returns_. If you'd like, we can send him over later."

"Oh! That would be most wonderful! Thank you, Mistress Mara. Princess Leia and the others are expecting you." He turned and hit the inner door release. "Please go in."

"Thank you;" said Luke, nodding with the utmost gravity. No matter how ridiculous Threepio might look in any given situation, there was always a certain inherent dignity about him. Luke and Mara usually tried to react in kind to that dignity.

In the inner chamber were Han and Leia, holding a quiet conversation over the computer display monitor at Leia's desk. Winter stood holding a datapad near the corner and Chewbacca sat alone near the door, his bowcaster resting over his knees. Mara looked over at him with a frown. "Hey Chewie; everything okay?"

The Wookiee gave her a few growling comments. "You don't say?" murmured Mara as she turned back to Leia and Han.

Leia and Han looked at them for the first time. "Thank you for coming, you two. Winter, that will be all for now."

"Yes, Your Highness," nodded Winter. With effortless grace, she glided from the room.

A mischievous grin came across Mara's face. _You know, I can see what you saw in her._ She teased through their bond.

It took a conscious use of the force to keep the blush out of his face. _I was younger then, Mara. Hadn't met the right person._

"If we aren't interrupting;" said Leia dryly.

"Sorry;" chuckled Luke. "So what are we going to do about the proton bomb we unloaded on the council yesterday?"

Han snorted in disgust. "It's not as if they believe us. Fey'lya is doing everything he can to discredit both of us;" he motioned between himself and Mara.

The redheaded Jedi Knight's emerald eyes glinted. "Oh is he? And how is he managing to do that?"

Leia sighed. "It helps that know one wants to believe that a Grand Admiral survived, much less one that you report is especially dangerous."

"Willful denial;" sighed Luke. "do they have any other explanations for how we got edged so neatly into the trap at Sluis Van."

Han snorted. "That would be where Fey'lya suggests that Ackbar's collusion comes in - that or his incompetence."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Oh please! If there is anyone on the council that I would suspect collusion or corruption of any kind, it isn't Ackbar. In fact, he is the last person I would and that is up to and including Mon Mothma;" suddenly, her green eyes widened and she blushed rather uncharacteristically. "Present company accepted of course."

Leia and Luke both chuckled. Han, unable to resist a jab at his favorite 'sister', drawled, "Had me worried there for a second, Red! I mean I know I have a checkered past and all that but..."

"Be nice, Han;" laughed Leia.

Quickly, they all sobered. "The truth is, Fey'lya's been keeping his cards close to his fur."

Han nodded. "He claims he's just trying to be fair;" Mara snorted, "but I think her's just trying not to rock all the stabilizers at once."

Luke and Mara shared a glance. Han had something else on his mind. "And maybe something more?" murmured Luke.

"Maybe;" he replied, exchanging a look with Leia. "Did you notice how quickly after Sluis Van Fey'lya dropped the hammer on Ackbar. Either he's one of the great opportunists of all time-"

"Which we already know his is;" said Leia and Mara together.

"-or else he knew in advance what was going to happen."

That brought on silence. In a low murmur, Leia said, "You realize what you're saying. You're accusing a member of the Council of being an Imperial Agent."

"Isn't that what he's accusing Ackbar of being?" countered Han.

"But that's the problem, Han;" said Mara, cutting off Leia's counter. "If we were to go before the rest of the council with this kind of accusation, it would look like a cheap trick by political amateurs to pull the pressure off the Admiral."

Leia nodded, a small smile on her face. "So you _were_ paying attention during those diplomacy lecture with the other Jedi!"

"Nah;" said Mara, waving it away. "I was in the back, making out with your brother."

"Mara!" the Skywalkers groaned.

Han chuckled. "Time well spent. Anyhow, I guess I see your point. But what if that's why he jabbed a furry paw at Ackbar so fast in the first place so that the Admiral couldn't turn it on him."

"Unfortunately, even if that is the case, our political situation is the same. Until Ackbar is clear, we can't go making baseless accusations against Fey'lya."

"May I suggest something?" asked Luke.

They all looked at him. "Whether Fey'lya is really in cahoots with the Empire or not, it's clear he's up to something or another. Wouldn't it be prudent to figure out exactly what it could be?"

Mara nodded. "Yeah. I'll make it a focus of my investigations. That reminds me, do I have the green light from the Council?"

"Not yet;" sighed Leia. "Actually, you'll most likely be summoned before the end of the day and they're going to ask you what you'll be looking into."

"What I'll be looking into?" asked Mara, her voice ever so slightly scournful. "I'll be looking into whatever the bank trace leads me to for starters. I'll also be checking on anyone who are obviously hiding something."

"That's going to be everyone, Mara;" said Leia with a sigh.

"Most likely, yes."

"Then good luck getting your approval for that;" muttered Han. "Anyhow, is there anything the rest of us can start on? About Fey'lya, I mean."

"Well," said Leia, "he grew up on Kothlis and not on Bothawui itself. He joined the Rebel Alliance right after Yavin and brought a good sized group of Bothans in with him. His people served mainly in support and reconnaissance, though they saw some occasional action, too. He was involved in a number of wide-ranging interstellar business activities before joining the Alliance - shipping, merchandising, some mining, assorted other ventures. I'm pretty sure he's kept up with some of them since then, but I don't know which ones."

"I'll find out;" murmured Mara, who was using a datapad to make notes, probably of things to look into specifically.

"You don't have official approval yet, Mara;" sighed Leia.

"And I'm not officially investigating yet;" retorted Mara.

"Well you'll have to look somewhere other than the files." said Leia, rubbing her temples. "I've been through them five times already. There's nothing."

"Is that so?" muttered Han. "Well seems to me like we can start there. Quiet business stuff is always good for digging up dirt."

Mara stood and moved over to the console, wedging herself between Han and Leia. "First question, what engagements were the Bothan's involved in after Yavin?"

"Scratch any battles that they were ordered into;" said Han, giving her more room to work. "and any that there were only a few of them in a multi-species task force."

"So basically anywhere that a bunch of Fey'lya's people really threw themselves into it;" said Mara as she tapped away. "I like it. Okay, let's see here..."

Luke and Leia looked at each other. It was clear to the former that the latter didn't see where Han and Mara were going with this line of inquiry. Luke shrugged. After only a few moments, Mara and Han looked at each other. "Looks like this one is the only one that really fits - a short but vicious engagement over New Cov in the Churba sector. Apparently four Bothan ships took son a Victory-class Star Destroyer, keeping it busy until a Star Cruiser could come and assist them;" said Mara.

Han rubbed the scar on his chin. "New Cov, huh? That system mentioned in Fey'lya's business stuff?"

Leia, still perplexed, shook her head. "No it doesn't."

"Alright;" said Han, "that's where we'll start."

He and Mara stood, leaving Leia and Luke still confused. "Did I miss something?" asked Leia.

"Oh, come on, Leia, " said Han, his voice almost chiding. "You said yourself that the Bothan's pretty much stayed out of the real war wherever they could. They didn't take on a Victory Star Destroyer at New Cov just for the fun of it. They were protecting something."

Mara nodded slowly as well but Leia was unconvinced. "I think you're reaching."

"It's worth checking out;" said Mara as she rubbed her chin lightly. "The smarmy furball is hiding something. Even if I don't think he had anything to do with the money, it would probably be best to figure it out. If it _was_ him, transferring a block fund through Palanhi from the Churba sector would be easier than sending it in from an Imperial-held sector."

"That brings us back to accusing Fey'lya of being an Imperial agent;" said Luke, shaking his head doubtfully.

"Maybe not;" said Han. "Could be that the timing of the transfer was coincidental. Or maybe one of the Bothans got a whiff of the Empire's intentions and Fey'lya figured he could use it to take down Ackbar."

"It's nothing we can take to the Council;" said Leia.

"I'm not going to the Council;" replied Han. "I'm going to take Luke to New Cov and we're going to check it out ourselves, real quiet like."

Mara didn't look too happy to hear that and looked over at Luke. Grimacing, Luke lifted his hands. "It's not like there's anything else I could do here to help;" he said, "and it's worth a look."

That was clearly not what Mara wanted to hear. "There's plenty you could do here;" she countered, crossing her arms. "you could help me with looking into the council. You could help with teaching our Jedi students. There is quite a bit that you could do."

Luke touched one of her crossed arms. "Mara, I think that this is the best course for me at the moment. Somehow, it just feels right."

Mara reached out with the force. To her disappointment, she had to agree. She did _not_ have to like it, however. "How long is this trip going to take?" she muttered.

Luke looked at Han. The former smuggler shrugged. "It can't take that long."

That did nothing to help her feel any better. "Mara;" Luke said but she waved it off.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, you can go. But you'd better be careful. Take care of each other and if I have to come out and rescue either of you, there will be chaotic hell to pay."

Luke leaned in and kissed her before murmuring, "I wouldn't expect anything less. Are we heading out immediately, Han?"

"Sure, why not. Sooner we leave, the sooner we get back. Leia has the political end and Mara has the information gathering end;" said Han.

There was something in Leia's thoughts that brought Luke and Mara up short. Before either could ask, Chewbacca growled out the entire story.

Mara looked startled and Han turned to Leia. "You promised _what?"  
_

She swallowed visibly. "Han, I had no choice."

"No choice? NO CHOICE? I'll give you a choice! No! You're not going!"

"Han-" Leia said levelly.

"Leia;" said Mara quietly. "These Noghri were Darth Vader's own private death commando corp. He used them as the guardians of his own secret installations and as bodyguards for individuals he wanted to be sure stayed alive. They even made the Emperor uncomfortable sometimes - not that they were really a threat to him but that, if he desired, Vader could use them to seriously damage Palpatine's power base."

"But that's just it!" said Leia quickly. "Khabarakh, the warrior that Chewie and I met, knows that I am the daughter of Darth Vader and, at least in their eyes, his heir. It's very important to them for some reason and, hopefully, I'll be able to use that to get them out from under the Empire. Anyway, I have to try."

Mara and Luke both looked decidedly skeptical and Han was still hard faced. "What is this," he snorted derisively, "some sort of crazy Jedi? Luke was always getting all noble and charging off into trouble, too."

Luke suppressed a chuckled with a snort. "We should go check on the _Knight's Return_."

Mara nodded hesitantly and they departed, leaving Han and Leia alone. "Han," she said quietly, taking one of his large hands in hers. "I know it's a risk, but it may be the only chance we ever have of resolving this. The Noghri need help - Khabarakh admitted it. If I can give them that help - if I can convince them to come over to our side - that'll be one less enemy for us to deal with. Besides, I can't keep running forever."

Han's face had softened and the light of desperation was in his eyes. "What about the twins?"

To his guilty satisfaction, she winced. "I know;" she whispered, her other hand resting on her swollen abdomen. "But what's the alternative? To lock them away in a tower of the Palace somewhere with a ring of Wookiee guards around them? They'll never have any chance of a normal life as long as the Noghri are trying to capture or kill us."

Han gritted his teeth painfully before he deflated, gazing at the love of his life. Ten years - ten years and this woman still knew how to drive him to his very last nerve. Ever since he had first met her, white dressing robe and intricate Alderaan hairstyle a stark contrast to her snippy, fiery attitude as she snatched Luke's blaster and blasted them a way of escape back on the very first Death Star. The flood of memories caused him to go from frustrated, impotent anger to aching worry and sadness.

"Can I at least go with you?" he asked quietly.

Leia smiled through misty eyes, infinitely thankful for his understanding. "I promised I'd go alone. Don't worry, I'll be alright."

"Well;" Han said, standing briskly, "if you're going, you're going. Come on - I'll help you get the _Falcon_ prepped."

"The Falcon? But I thought you were going to New Cov."

"I'll take Lando's ship;" he called over his shoulder as he strode to the door. "We've go to get it back to him anyway."

"But-"

"No argument;" he curt her off gently. "If this Noghri of yours has something besides talking in mind, you'll stand a better chance in the _Falcon_ than you will in the Lady Luck - or any other ship for that matter."

He opened the door to the reception area, only to stop short. Standing directly between him and the door, looking for all the world like a massive hairy thunder cloud, Chewbacca was glowering at him. "What?" demanded Han.

The Wookiee's comment was short, sharp and to the point. "Well I don't much like it either. What do you want me to do?"

Leia came up behind Han. "I'll be all right, Chewie. Really, I will."

Chewbacca growled again, making it abundantly clear of what he thought of her assessment.

"Well if you got any suggestions, let's hear 'em." said Han, crossing his arms.

To no one's surprise, he did. "I'm sorry, Chewie, but I promised Khabarakh that I'd come alone."

In the end, of course, the Wookiee would not be denied. "You know, Sweetheart, I really think you should at least bring him as far as the rendezvous point. You know how seriously Wookiees take this life debt think of theirs. Besides, you need a pilot."

After a long moment of glaring, Leia finally gave in with a sigh. "Alright but as soon as we get to the rendezvous point, Chewie, you do as I say, you got that?"

After just a moment of hesitation, he rumbled his agreement. They collected Threepio on the way to the palace hanger. For the most part, they were quiet, each with a million things that they could say to one another. In the end, after the Falcon was prepped and ready, all Leia could manage was, "I guess we'd better be going."

"I guess you'd better;" replied Han, his throat tight with emotion.


	4. Chapter 4: Thrawn's Plans

**Rishi**

Neither Shada nor Rianna were particularly pleased with their new base. "Talon, of all of our passed bases, this one is the worst;" said the former.

Karrde chuckled and said, "It _is_ a little public perhaps but it has its compensations. Besides, what do you expect when a large percentage of the population is crammed into a few valleys and canyons? Anyhow, the locals know how to respect one another's privacy. We have nothing to worry about."

"Heard that before;" muttered Rianna.

"Rianna;" Karrde said with amused patience, "the Empire doesn't have any idea where we are, nor does Darth Diabolis."

Both the women looked quite skeptical. Rianna snorted. "Darth Diabolis has complete control over the Zann Consortium, Karrde. He's as deep into the fringe as you can get. Do you really think he wouldn't be able to find us if he was looking?"

"It is a big galaxy, Rianna. There are a hundred thousand places we could go. Besides, the Zann Consortium is so small now, without even half the reach it once had."

"You know that the size doesn't equal the reach when it comes to fringe organizations like that, Talon;" said Shada, her voice just slightly reproachful.

Talon sighed and said, "Ladies, where do you think we could hide - _other_ than the New Republic, Rianna?"

"The New Republic;" said Shada, earning herself a mild glare from Karrde and a chuckle from the orange skinned Twi'lek.

"We've discussed this;" he said, just a bare hint of impatience in his voice. "We cannot go to the New Republic and risk losing either the Empire or our clientele in Imperial systems."

"They're already after us, Karrde;" sighed Shada.

The smuggler chief was about to respond when the comms unit chimed. "Chief, it's Lachton - we're out of flash netting."

"I'll grab him some. Work on him, will you, Shada?" said Rianna, walking out the door before her boss could retort.

Karrde shook his head and sighed. "You promoted her;" said Shada in amusement. "And you did so because she is exactly like that."

"And more and more, I am beginning to question the wisdom."

That actually made Shada laugh and she stood from her seat. "No you aren't. Now, I have a question for you, something you said you'd tell me about later."

"Oh? This isn't about the puzzle, because I solved that long ago;" said Karrde dryly.

"Yes you did;" said Shada with a coy smile. "But I am referring to the warships you were very careful not to tell Thrawn and Diabolis about."

Karrde nodded slowly and said, "Alright. Have a seat."

Karrde poured them both fresh cups of caf and sat down across the comms station from her, carefully setting the drinks on the console. "Have you ever heard of the Katana fleet?"

Shada gave a slow nod. "The Dark Force was its alternate name due to the dark gray hauls of two hundred Rendili Stardrives Dreadnought-class Heavy Cruisers. All of them were top of the time - at least for the time frame. They were completely slave rigged so that the entire fleet could be controlled from the flagship."

"Exactly;" said Karrde and sipped his caf. "They were to be the Galactic Republic's great military triumph. In fact, many believe that their loss was what opened the way for the Separatist movement since most of the senate decided to vote against another attempt at a military movement from the government."

"They disappeared because of some kind of hive virus, right? A virus that caused them to go insane and jumped to parts unknown before they died;" said Shada quietly and slowly, perceiving where the conversation was going.

"That is correct;" said Karrde quietly. "And ever since then, all around the galaxy, searchers and treasure hunters have sought the fleet, whether for the power of its ships or for the money they could get from the salvage. From that, many a con artist has sold a fake map for quick and easy cash. Yet, no one has ever actually found the fleet - until just over fifteen years ago."

"You found them;" stated Shada, amazement just barely perceptible in her voice.

"Purely by accident, I assure you, not by any skill or cleverness of my own. In fact back then, I was only a lowly navigator in a small but very effective smuggling group. After a botched job, we were on the run from a pair of carrack-class cruisers and made and emergency jump without making proper calculations. We dropped out only half a lightyear away to recalculate - smack in between two dreadnought heavy cruisers. They had running and interior lights on and appeared to be fully functional and we all assumed that they were an interception group sent after us somehow. We made another emergency jump and got caught in the mass shadow of a large commit and shorted out our hyperdrive. Five died in the initial interaction and three more died of injuries before we could limp back to civilization."

Shada considered this silently. "You know, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Diabolis _will_ get the information out of you if they capture you. The Imperial interrogation methods are infamous and are we even sure of what a Sith Lord will do for the information?"

"There were some tales about Darth Vader and his methods;" murmured Karrde, resisting the urge to shudder at the idea.

"Exactly;" said Shada, "I can appreciate wanting to stay free and I can appreciate not wanting to fully trust the New Republic, especially after the last time but it's getting to the point where we are running out of options. I for one think that we can trust the Skywalkers and the Solos. Don't forget the Han Solo was a smuggler at one point in time."

"True;" murmured Karrde.

"Besides, if the Empire wins, they'll come right after us. Diabolis will send his Dark Jedi Knights after us. Our best hope is to ensure that the New Republic wins."

Karrde couldn't help but chuckle. "You know, there was a time when you were stoutly against either the New Republic or the Empire."

"That's before Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Diabolis took a personal interest in us and drove us out of our Myrkr base;" said Shada.

Karrde was struck by how truly troubled she looked. Reaching across, he took Shada's hand. "We will definitely consider our options. In the mean time, we do have work to do."

* * *

Rianna had made her way down the street, only making it a block before noticing him. It was a man in a patterned jacket with a scarf wrapped around his head. He wasn't even trying to hide that fact that he was watching her and the door to the hide out. "Oh boy;" she muttered, "that didn't take long. Alright, buddy, let's play a game."

She made as if to cross the street but then slipped into the hurrying crowds of beings. Ahead of her, the scarfed man did the same, heading through the crowds and taking a right down towards the industrial section of the city. There, she assumed that whoever he was, he thought he'd be able to take care of her with a little more privacy. "Well aren't you in for a surprise?" she muttered with a predatory grin. She hadn't done this in years - not since she was an active part of the war actually.

She hurried through the alley ways, always peeking around and making sure that her pray was still heading in the same direction and that she was tailing him sufficiently. Not too far into the industrial sector of the city, she saw him huddled behind a pile of crates, facing the direction he had presumably come, also presumably to ambush her. "Game over;" she said, pulling a blade from the back of her belt and slipping forward.

As Rianna got closer, she frowned, immediately recognizing that the man was entirely too still. Edging just a little closer, she cursed and spun around. But she was too late. A man stood there with a blaster on her. "My, my - you're a quick one, aren't you? Why don't you go ahead and drop that knife there."

Rianna smiled coolly. "I'm impressed. It's been years since someone's been able to sneak up on me like that. I must be getting soft and slow."

"Or maybe I'm just that good;" sneered the bounty hunter. "Now nice and slow, unbuckle that belt and toss it over here."

"I can't do that, silly;" said Rianna as she scanned around, looking for anything that could help her. "My pants will fall down."

"Cute;" sneered the bounty hunter, whoever he was. "But even if that were the case, it's not exactly my problem now, isn't it? Now drop it!"

Shrugging almost casually, she reached for her buckle and unfastened it. The belt slid down to the ground and she rested her thumbs in the top of her pants. "So who's so hot for me that they need to have hired guns come and find me?"

"Oh I dunno, little Darlin';" he said sarcastically. "I'm sure someone out there's someone out there who wants you. Besides, no one's looking for you. It's your boss they want."

Rianna sighed and rubbed her prosthetic lekku. "Let me guess: the Empire and Diabolis?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" sneered the bounty hunter.

Rianna chuckled. "I _do_ know. Anyhow, whatever it is they offered you, I'll see it tripled. All you need to do is put up the blaster and I can see to it."

"You're awfully generous with other people's money, aren't you?"

Rianna shrugged, resting her thumbs in the top of her pants again. "I know my employer. He has no desire to fall into Imperial or Sith hands so I'm sure triple the pay won't be a problem."

"A tempting offer but one thing I've learned is that it's better to stick with a sure thing than risk it on a slim chance."

"Even if you'd only be getting half or a third of what you could potentially get?" asked Rianna pointedly as she casual stepped away from her gun belt.

There were a few ways one could attempt to engage an armed opponent while they themselves were unarmed. However, this bounty hunter seemed quite alert and charging him when he already had the blaster trained on her would be suicidal. "Half or a third of something is better than any amount of nothing, little darlin'. Now come on. I have places to be and money to make."

"Alright, alright;" she said, her hands up as she started heading towards the mouth of the alley.

The bounty hunter kept his weapon on her, making sure there was plenty of room between the two of them - right up until he tripped over some debris. Like lightning, Rianna moved, narrowly avoiding a blaster bolt. She leaped upon the bounty hunter, twisted the blaster from his hand, punched him in the side of the throat and then blasted him with his own weapon. Sighing with relief, Rianna began to rifle through his pockets. He had some bits of money in both New Republic and Imperial currency and an identicard which identified the bounty hunter as one Dengar Roth, though it was most likely a forgery. The blaster was a descent model and, falling back on old habits, Rianna shoved it into the back of her belt once she had put it back on. The moneys, she pocketed too. Why not? 'Dengar Roth' sure didn't need it anymore.

* * *

Shada, Karrde and Dankin were waiting when she got back. Dankin was pacing back and forth and snapped at her as she entered, "There you are! Where the blazes-"

"Cool off, Dankin;" she cut him off. "We've got trouble. Here, take a look at this."

They gathered around to look at the ID card she was holding. Shada took it and plugged it in to a datapad. "Bounty hunters;" she murmured.

Karrde's face appeared on the datapad display beneath a large 20,000. "Woah, Karrde;" murmured Rianna, "even if I'm not sure what that's worth in New Rep currency, I'm willing to bet it's a lot."

"I'm flattered;" said Karrde dryly.

Shada rolled her eyes. "Wonderful; now can we please come up with a plan on what we're going to do about this?"

"Do we even have to discuss it?" snorted Rianna. "It's time to go."

"You're right, of course;" said Karrde. "Dankin, get on the secure line with Lachton and have him start pulling apart the drop. Then call Chin and his team and have them go over and repack the stuff in the equipment dumps."

"Got it;" said Dankin as he moved to comply.

Rianna looked between Shada and Karrde. "Okay so to another back up base. My question is, what happens when we run out of them?"

Shada looked at Karrde, waiting for his response. After a brief pause, he simply stated, "We'll make the jump when we get there. We have plenty of bases to choose from and plenty of places left to hide."

"Karrde-" said Shada, but he lifted his hand, cutting her off.

"Tell Rianna about what we discussed and then get to work. There is a lot to be done before we pull out of here."

Shada nodded, clearly not happy about it. "Come on. I'll explain while we work."

An hour after midnight, they were up and off planet, thanks to the organization's steady work and, of course, to general applications of funds to spaceport officials. Shortly after that, they were in hyperspace.

* * *

 **Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer _Chimaera_**

Captain Pellaeon uneasily observed the bulk cruiser in the midst of the New Republic convoy. It seemed strange that so little defense had been provided for it but then Grand Admiral Thrawn had ordered TIE interceptors to be launched and, even as they streaked towards the convoy, the freighter's bays were a flurry of launched A-wing fighters. "An interesting tactic," Thrawn commented, "if not especially innovative. The idea of converting bulk crusier into fighter carriers was proposed over twenty years ago."

"I don't recall it ever being implemented," replied Pellaeon as he glanced at the tactical display. The A-wings were a staple of the New Republic military, though still slightly less popular than the blasted X-wings. Even using the faster TIE interceptor, he wasn't very sure how they would be able handle the A-wings.

"Excellent fighters, A-wings," Thrawn said. "Not without their limitations though. Particularly here - high-speed craft like that are far more suited to hit-and-fade or seek and destroy operations than in escort duty. Forcing them to remain near a convoy largely neutralizes their speed advantage. Perhaps we're seeing the result of Admiral Ackbar's removal as Supreme Commander."

"Perhaps;" acquiesced Pellaeon. It was true that the TIE's were holding their own against the A-wings. The _Chimaera_ itself was having no trouble with the bulk cruiser. Beyond them, the rest of the convoy was huddled together. "Ackbar's people are still in charge, though. Obviously."

"We've been over this territory already, Captain. Planting a vacuum-tight collection of evidence against Ackbar would have ruined him too quickly. The more subtle attack will still neutralize him, but it will also send ripples of uncertainty and confusion through the Rebellion's entire political system. At the very least, it will distract and weaken them just at the moment when we'll be launching the Mount Tantis campaign. At its best, it could split the entire Alliance apart."

Thrawn smiled. "Ackbar himself is replaceable, Captain. The delicate political balance the Rebellion has created for itself is not."

"I understand all that, Admiral;" Pellaeon growled, "My concern is with your assumption that the Bothan on the Council can be relied upon to push things so close to your theoretical breakup point."

"Oh he'll puch, all right;" Thrawn said, his smile turning sardonic as he watched the carnage around the enemy convoy. "I've spent many hours studying Bothan art, Captain, and I understand their species quite well. There's no doubt at tall that Councilor Fey'lya will play his part beautifully as if we were pulling his strings directly."

Tapping his comm key, he said, "Starboard batteries: one of the frigates in the convoy is easing into attack position. Assume it's an armed backup and treat it accordingly. Squadrons A-2 and A-3, move to protect that flank until the frigate had been neutralized."

Pellaeon continued to cajole the issue but Thrawn's calm and quiet confidence would not be persuaded. "Trust me, Captain," he said, "I dare say the wasting of political effort has already begun, in fact. Ackbar's staunchest allies would hardly have left Coruscant at this critical point unless they were desperately searching for evidence to clear him."

That caused Pellaeon to frown, "Are you saying that Solo and Organa Solo are headed for the Palanhi System?"

"Solo only, I think;" mused Thawn. "Organa Solo and the Wookiee are most likely still trying to find a place to hide from our Noghri. But Solo will be going to Palanhim firmly convinced by Intelligence's electronic sleight-of-hand that the trail leads through that system. Which is why the _Death's Head_ is on its way there right now."

"I see," murmured Pellaeon. "I hope it will be equal to the task. Solo and Skywalker have both proved hard to trap in the past."

Thrawn nodded slowly before stating, "I don't believe Skywalker is going to Palanhi. From what intelligence tells us, Skywalker rarely goes anywhere without Jade Skywalker these days. That trip to Bimmisaari was an anomaly. I suspect that, especially after the rough trek through the Myrkr forests, Mara Jade Skywalker will remain on Coruscant for the duration of her pregnancy. At any rate, Delta Source seems to back up that hypothesis."

Pellaeon scowled. The _Chimaera's_ intelligence section had been nagging him for months to discover what this Delta Source was that seemed to feed such clear and precise information to Grand Admiral Thrawn from the very heart of the Imperial Palace. All the Grand Admiral ever said was that Delta Source was firmly established and utterly reliable.

"How was the Tanaab operation, Captain?" asked Thrawn, suddenly changing the subject.

"A complete success, Admiral;" said Pellaeon. "Those Dark Jedi are proving their worth quite well. Even so, they still make me nervous, Admiral."

Thrawn smiled wryly. "They should, Captain; the Sith and their servants are famous for their untrustworthiness. However, while our goals are the same and while Diabolis believes that he needs us, we have nothing to fear."

"Of course, Admiral;" said Pellaeon.

"I will be giving the Noghri one last opportunity to capture or kill Organa Solo. As soon as we are finished here, we will go and I will deliver the message to them personally."

Pellaeon's gut clenched.

Shortly after, the _Chimaera_ jumped to the lightspeed, leaving the New Republic convoy utterly stripped of its defenses but otherwise intact.

* * *

 **Wayland - Mount Tantis**

Lord Diabolis watched as a large group of his Dark Jedi trained. Beside him, his Sith Shadow Hand and lover Silri watched observed as well, he arms crossed over her chests. Diabolis turned to consider her for just a moment, taking in her pale skin and red tattoos before turning to the turbo lift. "Come, Lady Silri. We should check on the operations here."

Side by side, they checked on the technicians working on their secret droid project. Little progress had been made. The cloning facilities were at peak efficiency and the defenses were optimal.

Everything checked out. When they had finished, Diabolis said, "I think that I will leave and begin my hunt for Skywalker and Jade Skywalker fairly soon."

"Why? They will come to us soon enough;" she stated.

Diabolis contemplated before saying, "Perhaps you are correct, but it is not in my nature to simply wait for my enemy. It is far more preferable to hunt them."

"Would it not be wiser to choose a place to lure them to?" asked Silri. "We could fight them at a place of our choosing."

Diabolis nodded slowly. "A trap well laid would be prudent. Emperor Palpatine has many artifacts in here - holocrons, lightsabers, texts - we could use them."

Silri nodded. "Exactly, my lord."

"We will lure Skywalker to Dantooine or, perhaps, the north pole of the planet Telos IV."

"Telos also had a Jedi stronghold on it at one point, many millennia ago;" stated the Dathomir Witch.

Darth Diabolis rubbed his clean shaven chin, "Perhaps one of the Imperial stronghold worlds would be more appropriate. After all, the Emperor removed most of the Jedi knowledge he found during the purge and stashed it in his own vaults. How about Kuat or Fondor perhaps?"

Silri chewed a lip. "We should take care. If it is too far in Imperial space, Skywalker may not take the bait."

Diabolis nodded silently for some time before saying, "I will give it some thought."


	5. Chapter 5: Chasing a Lead

**Orbit over the forest Moon of Endor - Aboard the _Millennium Falcon_**

Leia watched as Chewbacca slid the _Falcon_ into the moon's orbit with the casual ease he always did. Aside from the moon, the space around them was empty, "Doesn't look like Khabarakh's here yet;" she commented, know that it was a rather pointless and obvious comment.

They had both been watching the sensors since they had dropped out of lightspeed and there was no sign of any other ships in the system. Chewie gave a few rumbles and growls, most likely his current feelings about the whole situation. After a pause, he growled a question. "We wait I guess;" said Leia with a shrug. "After all, we are almost a day early - got here faster than I expected."

The Wookiee gave a snort as he stood to his feet and his own interpretation of the Noghri's absence. "Oh come on!" Leia chided him. "If he decided to make this meeting a trap, don't you think he'd have a couple of Star Destroyers and an Interdictor Cruiser waiting to meet us?"

"Your highness?" called See-Threepio's voice from down the corridor. "I'm sorry to disturb you but I think I may have located the fault in the Carbanti countermeasures package. Could you ask Chewbacca to step back for a moment?"

Leia looked at Chewbacca in mild surprise. It wasn't uncommon, unfortunately, for the _Falcon_ to have innumerable maintenance problems and, as usual, some of the systems had gone out early in the flight. Recently at least, it was never any truly major systems that went out, not like that crazy flight from Hoth during the war. With a small smile, Leia said, "We'll make a repair droid out of him yet - your influence, now doubt."

Chewie snorted and rumbled his opinion of that as he headed back towards the droid.

As the door to the cockpit slid shut, Leia sat quietly and rubbed her swollen abdomen, cooing to the two tiny lives she could sense within her. "Do you see that planet below, my dears? That's Endor; where the Rebel Alliance finally triumphed over the Empire, and the New Republic began."

It was a massive simplification of course, and all the memories of the seemingly endless battles with the Empire cycled through her memory but, by and large, it was the truth. It was after Endor that the Empire's iron grip on the galaxy was irrevocably shaken. Now, however, it would seem that, one brilliant move at a time, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Diabolis were reestablishing that hold over the galaxy and the so-called mopping up action had blossomed, once again, into a full-blown conflict.

As she contemplated the past, the present and the possible futures, Chewie roared a question from the back. Leia leaned forward to look at the board as she keyed one of the switches. "It reads 'standby/modulo," she called. "Wait a minute- now it reads 'system ready.' Do you wont me to-" suddenly, a black veil fell across her vision.

As she returned to full awareness, she heard a metallic voice frantically calling her. "Your highness! Your highness, can you hear me?"

Slowly opening her eyes, Leia saw the shining golden droid and the massive bulk of Chewbacca, who was rather uselessly clutching a medpack in his large paw. With a grown, she said, "I'm all right. What happened?"

Threepio, still anxious as ever, answered, "You shouted for help; at least, we thought it was for help. You were brief and rather incoherent."

"I don't doubt it;" she muttered as it all began to return to her, the overwhelming feelings of menace, rage, hatred and despair.

Looking at Chewie, she asked, "You didn't feel it, did you?"

He growled in a negative as he continued to watch her closely. "I felt nothing either;" put in Threepio.

Leia shook her head. "I don't know what it could have been. One minute I was sitting there and the next-"

As a single horrible thought dawned on her, she trailed off before asking, "Chewie, where does this orbit take us? Does it ever pass through the position where the Death Star blew up?"

Chewie stared at her for a moment, rumbling deep in his throat. Then, shifting the unused medpack to another hand, he reached past her to key the computer. The answer came almost immediately.

"Five minutes ago;" murmured Leia, "That would be just about right, wouldn't it?"

The Wookiee's affirmative and following question caused her to shake her head and admit, "I really don't know. It sounds a little like something Luke went through on- during his Jedi training," she corrected herself, remembering that Luke still wanted Dagobah's significance to be kept a secret. "But he saw a vision. All I felt was... I don't know." and she shook her head again. "It was anger and bitterness. But at the same time, there was almost something sad about it. No - sad isn't the right word."

She shook her head and dashed the sudden and inexplicable tears from her eyes. "Look, I'm all right. You two can go on back to what you were doing."

Chewbacca gave a quiet snort and a rumble under his breath, clearly not convinced. Even so, he closed up the medpack and pushed past Threepio. The cockpit door slid open for him and, with the proverbial Wookiee disdain for subtlety, he locked in in that position before disappearing down the corridor into the main section of the ship. Leia turned her eyes on Threepio. "You to. Go on - you still have work to do back there. I'm alright. Really."

The droid was every bit as hesitant as the Wookiee. "Well... very well, your Highness. If you are certain."

"I am;" said Leia, smiling reassuringly, "Go on, scat."

Threepio dithered another moment but then obeyed, leaving Leia to deliberate. Somehow, the space around seemed different somehow - darker than it did before. Setting her jaw, Leia said to the stillness, "I will not be intimidated, not here, not anywhere."

Of course, there was no reply. Leia reached over to the controls and casually keyed in a course alteration that would keep them from passing through that spot again. Even despite refusing to be intimidated, there was no point in deliberately seeking out trouble. That done, there was nothing left to do but wait and wonder if the Noghri would come.

* * *

 **New Cov - Ilic City**

As the _Lady Luck_ swept over the lush green forests towards the city, Han asked, "Any idea how we land on that thing?"

"Probably through those vents near the top;" replied Lando, pointing at the ship's main display. "They read large enough for anything up to about a W-class space barge to get in."

Han nodded, his fingers plucking and tapping anxiously against his armrests. There weren't a lot of things that could make him nervous but allowing someone else to maneuver a ship he was riding in through a tricky landing, especially a relatively small one, was one of those things. "This is an even crazier place to live than Nomad City;" he muttered.

"No arguments here;" muttered Lando. "At least on Nkllon, we don't have to worry about being eaten by some exotic plant. But that's economics for you. At last count, there were eight cities in this part of New Cov and two more being built."

Han grimaced. "They're still crazy. Watch out - they may have magnetic airlocks on those entrance ducks."

"Will you relax? I _have_ flown ships before, you know."

It wasn't as bad as Han feared it would be. Lando got his clearance and eased his way into one of the entrance ducts. Soon, they found themselves in a brightly lit landing area. Inbound customs were a mere formality, though given the planet's dependence on exports, the outbound scrutiny would probably be a lot tighter. They were greeted with a smile, a hand shake and a datacard with maps of the city and such and then released to go about their business. "So where are we supposed to meet Luke?"

"An old tapcaf called the Mishra attached to a half-sized version of the old Grandis Mon theater on Coruscant. I got the impression it was kind of a watering hole for local big shots;" answered Han as he checked the datacard on his datapad.

"Sounds like a good place to meet;" said Lando, before throwing Han a sideways look. "So, you ready to show me the hook yet?"

"Hook?" asked Han with a frown.

Lando snorted in reply. "Come on you old pirate; you pick me up on Sluis Van, ask me for a lift out to New Cov, send Luke on ahead for Mara-style cloak-an-blade rendezvous - and you expect me to believe you're just going to wave goodbye and let me go back to Nkllon?"

Han gave one of his patented innocent looks. "Oh come on, Lando-"

"The hook, Han. Let me see the hook."

Han sighed theatrically. "There isn't any hook, Lando. You can leave for Nkllon any time you want to."

Lando still wasn't buying it and his suspicions were confirmed when Han said casually, "'Course, if you hung around a little and gave us a hand, you might be able to work a deal and unload any spare metals you had lying around. Like, oh, a stockpile of hfredium or something."

Lando's glare burned into the side of his face. After a long pause, Han said in a mildly soothing voice, "Oh come on, Lando; hand around a couple days, you listen to people's jabberings, you maybe dig us out a lead or two about what Fey'lya's got going here, and that's it. You go home and back to your mining operation, and we never bother you again."

"I've heard _that_ before," Lando countered. Even so, Han knew that he'd won. "What make's you think Fey'lya's got contacts on New Cov?"

"Because during the war, this was the only place the Bothans ever seemed to care about defending-"

He broke off and grabbed Lando's arm. With a rough yank, Han pulled them both behind a central clumn. "What-" Lando tried to ask.

"Quite!" hissed Han, peaking around the column. After just a moment, he pointed to a figure one level below. "See that Bothan down there to the left? That's Tav Breil'lya, one of Fey'lya's top aides."

Lando took a peak, seeing the Bothan and asking, "How can you tell?"

"It's that neckpiece he wears - some kind of family crest or something. I've seen it dozens of times at council meetings."

Han chewed his lip, trying to think. If that really was Breyl'lya over there, finding out what he was up to could save them a lot of time. But Luke was probably sitting in the tapcafe and waiting for them. Thinking fast, he said, "I'm going to follow him. You head down to the Mishra, grab Luke, and catch up with me. If you're not with me in an hour, I'll try calling on the comlink."

They began going to the slideway to the Bothan's level. "Don't call me;" said Han. I might be someplace I wouldn't want a call beep going off."

"Goodluck;" called Lando quietly as he watched his old friend disappear into the crowd.

Han followed Breyl'lya through the crowded streets, easily keeping the cream colored fur of the Bothan in sight. After a good bit, Breyl'lya disappeared in a warehouse with a faded sign labeling it Amethyst Shipping and Storage. "I just hope that it's on the map;" Han murmured to himself.

"It is;" a woman's voice came softly from behind him.

Han froze and tentatively murmured, "Hello?"

"Hello;" she replied, "Turn around, please - slowly, of course."

"Look is this is a robbery-"

"Don't be silly," she cut him off.

The woman was short and slender with graying hair and a thin face. She was probably ten years older than Han and would probably have looked like a friendly sort if it weren't for the blaster in her hand. "Put the comlink on the ground. Your blaster too, as long as you're down there."

Silently, Han crouched down, drawing his weapon with exaggerated caution. Under cover of that motion, with most of her attention hopefully on the blaster, he switched on his comlink before setting it down. Straightening, he took a step back to prove that he knew proper procedures for taking prisoners. "Now what?" he asked.

As the woman stooped to retrieve the blaster and comlink, she said, "You seem interested in the little get-together yonder. Perhaps you'd like a guided tour."

"That would be great;" replied Han, his hands still up slightly as he silently hoped she didn't look at his comlink before stowing it in one of her pockets.

She didn't look at it. She merely switched it off and put it in her pocket. Han shrugged, determined to maintain at least some of his dignity. "I didn't have time to come up with any new ones."

"Apology accepted;" said the woman dryly, "Com on, let's go. And lower your hands - we don't want any passersby wondering now, do we?"

"Of course not;" said Han as he dropped his hands.

They were halfway to the Amethyst when, off in the distance, a siren began to wail.

* * *

Luke decided that the Mishra was an inverted replaying of his first visit to the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine so many years ago. What was it now - nine years back? Going on ten maybe? It seemed like longer either way.

The Mishra was much more sophisticated than it's desert world counterpart and catered to a much higher scale clientele. The similarity lay in the fact that the same wide assortment of beings crowded around tables and the bar and the band in the corner was playing quite similar music.

One stark and obvious difference, however, was that the patrons were giving Luke a respectful amount of room at the bar. So he sat there, sipping on the local variant of the hot chocolate he had grown to enjoy so much. It had, much to Luke's pleased surprised, a touch of mint to the flavor.

As he sipped, he took another glance at the entrance. Han and Lando had only been a couple of hours behind him which meant that they should be walking in at any minute. He hoped so anyway.

Luke honestly understood and agreed with Han's reasons for wanting to take two ships and arriving at Ilic separately, but with all the threats that seemed to be hanging over the New Republic, they couldn't really afford to waste time.

With a sigh, he took another sip when an inhuman bellow nearly forced him to spit it out. He spun around, automatically yanking his lightsaber from his belt, as the sound of a chair crashing over backwards added to a follow up to the bellow.

Five meters away from him stood a Barabel and a Rodia - face to face and with blasters drawn. An SE4 droid hustled towards them, waving its spindly arms and calling, "No blasters! No blasters!"

In a single smooth motion, the Barabel shifted aim and blew the droid to scrap before settling it back on the Rodian, all before the other could react.

"Hey!" yelled the bartender indignantly. "That's going to cost you-"

"Shut up;" snarled the Barabel in a raspy reptilian voice. "Rodian will pay you - after he pay me."

The Rodian drew himself up to his full height - still at least half a meter shorter than the Barabel - and spat something in his people's sing-song language, which Luke didn't understand.

"You lie," the Barabel spat. "You cheat. I know."

The Rodian screamed back and the Barabel replied, "You no like? You do anyway. I call on Jedi for judgement."

Luke blinked as all eyes turned to him. "What? Me?"

"Yes;" said the bartender, suddenly seeming relieved. "He wants you to settle their dispute."

Luke cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You're the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, aren't you?" he asked, gesturing at the lightsaber in Luke's hand.

"Yes;" Luke admitted.

"Well then;" and the bartender motioned towards the conflict.

Luke had once seen Leia called out in public to settle something. At least she was an official High Councilor. Luke, even as a Jedi Knight, had no drop of legal authority. And yet, looking into the bartender's eyes, he knew that it was only an excuse. Everyone in the bar trusted him to make the correct decision. So, taking a deep breath and sternly ordering his heart to calm down, he made his way through the crowd to the Barabel and Rodian. "Alright, the first thing you're going to do, both of you, is put away your weapons."

"Who first?" growled the Barabel.

Luke ignited his weapon between them, "Put them away."

The Barabel complied and the Rodian, after only a moment longer of hesitation, followed suit. Luke deactivated his weapon but still held it ready. "Now tell me the problem"

The Barabel growled, "He hire me for tracking job;" and he jabbed a finger at the Rodian. "I do what he say, but he no pay me."

The Rodian began to protest but Luke lifted his gloved hand. "Just a minute - we'll get to you;" before turning back to the Barabel, "what sort of job was it?"

"He ask me to hunt animal nest for him;" replied the Barabel," animal bothering little ships - eating at sides. I do what he say. He burn animal, get money. But then he pay me in no-good money."

He gestured to a now scattered pile of gold-colored metal chips. Luke picked one up and frowned slightly. It was a small, triangular piece with an intricate pattern of lines in the center and inscribed in each corner was a small _100._

Looking around, Luke asked, "Has anyone ever seen this currency?"

A man dressed in an expensive business suit answered, "It's the new Imperial scrip. You can only use it on Imperial-held worlds and stations."

Luke grimaced. The little chip was yet another reminder that the war for the galaxy was still being fought and with no visible end in sight. It did, however, highlight the problem. Looking at the Rodian, Luke asked, "Did you tell him before hand that you'd be paying him this?"

The other replied in his sing-song language Luke looked around the room, hoping someone would be willing or able to interpret.

"He said that that was how he was paid;" a familiar voice answered.

Luke turned as Lando eased his way through the crowd and up beside him. "He says he argued about it, but that he didn't have any choice in the matter."

"That _is_ how the Empire has been doing business lately;" came a voice from the crowd, "at least around here."

The Barabel spun towards the voice and hissed, "I no want your judgement. Only Jedi give judgement."

"Alright, calm down;" said Luke as he fingered the golden chit. If it really was the way the Rodian was paid, he didn't have much of a choice. "Is there any way to convert these into something else?"

The Rodian replied and Lando said, "He says no. You can use them for goods and services on Imperial worlds, but since no one in the New Republic will take them, there is no official rate of exchange."

Luke almost chuckled, getting his friend's meaning immediately. "Right. So what's the unofficial rate of exchange?"

"No idea, actually;" said Lando dryly. "Must be someone here who works both sides of the street though;" and he looked around. "Anyone here do business with the Empire?"

To no one's surprise, there was no response. "Shy, aren't they?" commented Luke.

"About admitting Imperial dealings to a Jedi Knight?" chuckled Lando. "I'd be shy too."

Suddenly, he straitened and sniffed. "There's no way;" he muttered.

"What?" asked Luke, his senses on high alert.

"I smell Carababba tabac and armuda, like from a cigarra."

Luke looked confused. His confusion increased when Lando called out, "Niles Ferrier, step forward."

There was a low murmur of surprise and a long pause before a bulky figure made his way forward. "What do you want, Calrissian?"

"You work both sides;" said Lando, "what's the current unofficial exchange rate between New Republic and Imperial currency?"

Ferrier sneered around his cigarra, "This is your Jedi friend's problem. Leave me out of it."

The crowd around sounded none to pleased and Luke simply gazed levelly at the man. After just a moment, Ferrier growled, "The last time I did business on the other side, we settled on a five/four conversion."

"Thank you;" said Luke. "That seems straightforward enough then"

Turning to the Rodian, Luke said, "Pay your associate with New Republic currency and a five/four exchange rate and take the Empire's scrip for the next time you work in their territory."

The Rodian prattled angrily and the Barabel grated, "That is lie!"

Lando translated the Rodian's objection. "He says he doesn't have enough New Republic currency. Knowing Rodians, I tend to agree with the Barabel."

"Perhaps;" Luke stared hard into the Rodian's faceted eyes. "Perhaps not. But there might be another way."

Luke turned his blue eyes on Ferrier and lifted and eyebrow questioningly. The big fringer growled and chomped his cigarra. "Don't even think it, Jedi."

"Why not?" asked Luke asked. "You work both sides of the border. You're more likely to be able to spend Imperial scrip than the Barabel could."

"Suppose I don't want to? Suppose I don't plan to go back any time soon. Or maybe I don't want to get caught with that much Imperial scrip on me. Fix it yourself, Jedi - I don't owe you any favors."

The Barabel snarled menacingly. "You talk respect. He is Jedi. You talk respect."

There was a rumble of agreement in the crowd around them and Lando casually murmured, "You better listened to them. I don't think you'd want to get in a fight here, especially not with a Barabel. They've always had a soft spot for Jedi."

"Yeah - right behind their snouts;" retorted Ferrier, but he didn't like the look of the crowd around him. Jedi opinion had only gone up in the passed six years, especially in the mid and outer regions. Not only that, it wouldn't do him any good to draw too much attention to himself.

Luke watched Ferrier and sensed his uncertainty grow. Finally, the big man growled, "Alright but it'l have to be a five/three exchange. The five/four was a fluke and there's no telling if I'll ever get that again."

The Barabel was not happy about that but Luke reassured him. "It's probably the best your going to get under the circumstances, and if it helps any, remember that you can pass a warning to the rest of your people about dealing with this particular Rodian. Not being able to hire expert Barabel hunters will hurt him far more in the long run than he might cost you now."

The Barabel responded with a grating noise in his throat that was probably his specie's equivalent of a laugh. "Jedi speak truth; punishment is good."

Luke braced himself and said, "You will, however, have to pay for the repair of the droid you shot. Whatever the Rodian said or did, he is not responsible for that."

The Barabel stared at Luke, his needle teeth making small, tight biting motions. Luke levelly returned the cold gaze, his senses alert for any intimidation or attack. Much to his relief, the Barabel reluctantly yet firmly said, "Jedi again speak truth. I accept judgement."

"Then the matter is closed;" said Luke, lifting his lightsaber hilt in a salute.

As the business was concluded, Lando murmured, "Nicely done, Buddy."

"Thanks;" Luke replied, trying to wet his dry mouth.

It had been more luck than skill. If Ferrier hadn't been there or had simply decided not to cooperate, Luke would have had no idea how to solve the dispute. All of Leia's lessons had come to him and this was the best he had come up with. Hell, even Han, with all of his fringer experience would probably have come up with a better solution. It was one aspect of Jedi responsibility he had not had a lot of experience with yet. Luke had been a General, a soldier and an operative but his mediation skills were clearly lacking.

"Han's following one of Fey'lya's Bothan pals up on Level four;" murmured Lando, drawing Luke out of his thoughts. "Spotted him from the west-central ramp and sent me to-"

He suddenly stopped short as sirens wailed outside the Mishra. "I wonder what that is;" he said.

"It's an alarm;" said one of the patrons of the tapcafe.

When the alarm pitch changed, the patron clarified, "It's a raid."

Luke frowned. "A raid? Who's raiding you?"

With a scoff, the man replied, "Who else? It's the Empire."

"Uh oh;" murmured Luke.

"Yeah;" agreed Lando, "Come on."

They exited the Mishra and headed back out onto the avenue. To their surprise, the locals didn't seemed panicked or even mildly worried. Indeed, they were just going about their business, giving only cursory glances towards the sounds.

"Maybe they don't realize what's going on;" said Luke, though he didn't sound too convinced of that.

Lando snorted. "Or else they've got a quiet agreement with the Empire. Maybe the leadership finds it politically handy to align themselves with the New Republic, but they also want to keep in the Empire's good graces. Since they can't pay anything as overt as tribute, they instead let the Imperials come in every so often and raid their stocks of refined biomolecules. I've seen that sort of thing done before."

Luke's face turned grim. "Only this time it might backfire on them?"

"Like if the Imperials sport the _Lady Luck_ and _Knight's Return_ on the landing records?" muttered Lando.

"I actually just took my old X-wing this time but it doesn't make a difference. Where did you say Han was again?"

Lando grimaced. "Last I saw, he was on Level Four heading west. He told me not to call him but I think this qualifies as an unforeseen circumstance."

Luke lifted a forestalling hand. "Wait a minute. If he's anywhere near this saide of Fey'lia's - and if Fey'lia's working some kind of deal with the Empire...?"

"You're right;" said Lando. "Blast it! So what do we do?"

They stepped onto the section spiraling upward on the spiral walkway. "I'll go find Han;" answered Luke. You get up to the landing area and see what's happening. If the Imperials haven'r actually landed yet, you might be able to get into the air control computer and erase us from the list. Artoo can help if you can get him out of my X-wing. and over to a terminal without being caught."

"I'll give it a try."

A stray memory flicked through Luke's mind. "I don't suppose the _Lady Luck_ 's equipped with one of those full-rig slave circuits you talked about back on Nkllon, is it?"

Lando shook his head. "It's rigged, but only with a simple homing setup. Nothing much more than a straight-line motion and a little maneuverability. It'd never be able to get to me through the middle of an enclosed city like this."

Luke nodded and shrugged rather ruefully. "Just a thought."

"Here's where Han got off. He headed that way;" said Lando, pointing the way.

"Right; see you soon. Be careful;" said Luke as he stepped off the ramp.

"You too."


	6. Chapter 6: Friends in Surprising Places

**New Cov - Ilic City**

She took Han to a small room in the Amethyst building, turned him over to a couple of guard-looking men and then headed deeper into the facility with his blaster, comlink and ID card. After studying the two guards, he tried to strike up a conversation with them but got no more response than a few apathetic looks. After a few attempts, Han resigned himself to sitting quietly and waiting while listening to the waling sirens outside. When the graying woman finally returned, she was accompanied by another woman. This second woman was taller and had an unmistakable air of authority about her. "Good day to you;" she greeted him politely enough. "Captain Han Solo, I believe?"

With his ID in her hand, there didn't seem to be a point in denying it. "That's right."

"We're honored by your visit;" she said with just a touch of irony in her voice, "though greatly surprise by it."

Han scowled. "I don't know why. The visit was your idea. Do you always pick people up off the street?"

"Just the special ones;" replied the tall woman, one eyebrow raised. "You want to tell me who you are and who sent you?"

Han's scowl deepened. "What do you mean, who am I? You've got my ID right there."

"Yes I do;" she replied, turning the card over in her hand. "But there's some difference of opinion as to whether or not it's genuine."

Looking at the door, she beckoned. In stepped Tav Breil'lya. "I was right;" said the Bothan, his cream-colored fur rippling in an unfamiliar pattern. "As I told you when I first saw his ID. He is an impostor. Almost certainly an Imperial spy."

"What?" snapped Han, staring at the Bothan. It _was_ Tav Breil'lya alright. "What did you call me?"

"You're an Imperial spy;" Breil'lya repeated, his fur rippling again. "Come to destroy our friendship, or even kill us all. But you'll never live to report back to your masters."

He turned to the tall woman in charge. "You must destroy him at once, Sena;" he urged. "Before he has a chance to summon your enemies here."

"Let's not do anything rash, Council-Aide Breil'lya;" Sena soothed, "Irenez has a good picket screen in position."

She turned to face Han. "Would you care to respond to the Council-Aide's accusations?"

But Breil'lya cut Han off before he could respond. "We have no interest in the ravings of an Imperial spy."

"On the contrary, Council-Aide," Sena countered. "Around here, we have interest in a great many things."

She turned back to Han, lifted his ID. "Do you have nay proof other than this that you're who you claim to be?"

"It doesn't matter who he is." Breil'lya jumped in again, his voice starting to sound a little strained. "He's seen you, and he must certainly know that we have some king of arrangement. Whether he's from the Empire or the New Republic is irrelevant - both are your enemies, and both would use such information against you."

Sena's eyebrows lifted again. "So now his identity doesn't matter," she said coolly. "Does that mean you're no longer certain her's an impostor?"

Breil'lya's fur rippled once again. Clearly, he wasn't as quick on his verbal feet as his boss. "He's a very close likeness," the other muttered. "Though a proper dissection would quickly establish for certain who he is."

Sena smiled slightly. But it was a smile of understanding, not of humor... and suddenly, Han realized that the confrontation had been as much a test of Breil'lya as it had been of him. "I'll keep that recommendation under advisement."

Just then, Irenez received a call on her comlink. After conversing inaudibly for several moments, she looked at Sena. "Picket line reports another man approaching. Medium build, dark blond hair, all in black and carrying what appears to be-" and she glanced at Han, "a lightsaber."

Sena looked at Breil'lya. "I believe that ends the discussion. Have one of the pickets meet him, Irenez, and ask him if he'll join us. Mark it clear that's a _request_ , not an order. Then return Captain Solo's weapons and equipment to him."

She turned to Han and handed him his ID. "My apologies, Captain. You understand we have to be cautious. Particularly given the coincidence of this."

Han nodded as he heard the sirens outside. "No problem. What are the sirens about anyway?"

"An Imperial raid; but it's no big deal," she assured him. "They come by every few months and take a percentage of the refined biomolecules that have been packaged for export. It's a covert form of taxation the city governments have worked out with them. Don't worry, they never come any farther in than the landing level."

"Yeah, well they may change the routine up this time;" Han growled as his switched his comlink on. "Luke?"

The younger man's voice replied, "I'm here, Han. My escort tells me I'm being brought to where you are. You all right?"

"Just a little misunderstanding. Better get here fast - we got company."

"Right."

Han shut off the comlink. Sena and Irenez, he saw, had meanwhile, been having a quiet conversation of their own. "If you're as touchy about Imperials as Breil'ya implied, you might want to find a whole to disappear into;" he advised.

Sena assured him, "Our escape route is ready," as Irenez left the room. "The question is what to do with you and your friend."

"You can't just turn them loose!" Breil'lya insisted, trying one last time. "You know full well that if the New Republic learns about you-"

"The commander is being notified," Sena cut him off. "He'll decide."

"But-"

"That's all, Council-Aide," she cut him off again, he voice suddenly hard. "Join the others at the lift shaft. You'll accompany me on my ship."

Breil'lya threw one last unreadable look at Han, then silently left the room.

"Who's this commander of yours?" Han asked.

"I can't tell you that;" Sena studied studied him a moment. "Don't worry, though. Despite what Breil'lya said, we're not enemies of the New Republic. At least, not at the moment."

Han snorted quietly. "Oh. Great."

There was the sound of footsteps from the hallway outside. A few seconds later, accompanied by two young men with holstered blasters, Luke stepped into the room. "Han;" he greeted while giving Sena a quick once-over, "You all right?"

"I'm fine;" Han assured him. "Like I said, it was a little misunderstanding. The lady here - Sena-" and he paused expectantly.

"Let's just leave it at Sena for now," she said dryly.

"Ah;" said Han noncommittally. He had hoped to get her last name, but clearly she wasn't in the habit of giving it out. "Anyway, Sena thought I was an Imperial spy. And speaking of Imperials-"

"I know;" Luke said. "Lando's gone up to see if he can clear our ships from the landing record."

"He won't be able to," Han shook his head, "not in time. And they're bound to pull the landing list."

Luke nodded in agreement. "Then we'd better get up there."

"Unless you'd all rather come with us," Sena offered. "There's plenty of room on our ship, and it's hidden away where they won't find it."

"Thanks, but no," Han said.

Wasn't about to go off with these people until he knew a lot more about them. Whose side they were on, for starters. "Lando won't want to leave his ship."

"And I need to get my droid back;" Luke added.

Irenez slipped back into the room. "Everyone's on their way down, and the ship's being prepped," she told Sena. "And I got through to the Commander." She handed the tall woman a data pad.

Sena glanced at it, nodded and turned back to Han. "There's a service shaft near here that opens up into the west edge of the landing area. I doubt the Imperial know about it; it's not on any of the standard city maps. Irenez will guide you up there and give you what help she can."

"That's not really necessary," Han told her.

Sena held up the datapad. "The commander told me to give you whatever aid you require. I'd appreciate is if you'd allow me to carry out my orders."

Han looked at Luke with one raised eyebrow. The young Jedi shrugged slightly in return. He didn't give any sign that he sensed duplicity or deception in either of the women. That didn't mean that Han was going to be happy about it, though. "Fine, she can come along;" he growled.

"Good luck;" said Sena before she exited through the door.

Irenez gestured to the door after her. "This way, gentlemen."

The service and maintenance shafts were a combination of stairwells, personnel lifts and even a cargo lift that were set into the city's outer walls. The good news was that the landing area was only three levels above Sena and Irenez's base. Unfortunately, due to Ilic's high-ceilinged layout, translated into quite a distance of travel by stairs and lifts - and, as it turned out, more stairs were needed than lifts. The lifts were probably still being used by Sena and the main body of their base. By the time they reached the landing level, Han's legs were beginning to tremble and his breathing was labored. By contract, Luke and Irenez seemed obnoxiously un-fatigued. "Now what?" asked Luke as he peered around.

The X-wing's nose was just visible around the bulk of a W-23 Soace Barge. "Let's find Lando;" said Han, grabbing his comlink and thumbing it on.

"Lando?"

"Right here;" came the reply in a whisper. "Where are you?"

"West end of the landing area, about twenty meters from Luke's X-wing. How about you?"

"About ninety degrees away from you toward the south," Lando answered. "I'm behind a stack of shipping boxes. There's a stormtrooper standing guard about five meters aaway, so I'm sort of stuck here."

"What sort of trouble are we looking at?" asked Han as he peered around the corner again.

"It looks like a full-fledged task force," Land said grimly. "I saw three drop ships come in, and I think there were one or two on the ground when I got here. If they were fully loaded, that translated to a hundred and sixty to two hundred men. Most of them are regular army troops, but there are a few stormtroopers in the crowd too. There aren't too many of either still up here - most of them headed on down the ramps a few minutes ago."

"Probably gone to search the city for us;" murmured Luke.

"Yeah. Hey, it looks like Artoo is still in your X-wing."

"Yeah," said Lando, "but I saw them doing something over that way. They may have put a restraining bolt on him."

"We can handle that;" replied Han. "I think we can make it to the X-wing without being spotted. You told me on the trip here that you had a beckon call for the _Lady Luck_ , right?"

"Right, but it'snot going to do me any good," Lando said. "With all these boxes around, there's no place I can set it down without opening myself to fire."

"That's okay;" Han told him, feeling a tight smile twist at his lips.

Luke might have the force, and Irenez might be able to climb stairs without getting winded; but he would bet heavily that he could outdo both of them in sheer chicanery. "You just get it moving toward you when I give the word."

He switched off the comlink. "We're going over to the X-wing," he told Luke and Irenez, adjusting his grip on his blaster. "You ready?"

They acknowledged, their own weapons in their hands, and Han gave one more look around before they headed as quickly and silently as they could across the 'crete. They made it to the space barge without incident and Han waited a moment as the others caught up to him. "Shh!" Luke suddenly hissed.

Han froze, pressing himself against the barge's corroded hull. Not four meters away, a stormtrooper standing guard was starting to turn in their direction. Clenching his teeth, Han raised his blaster. But even as he did so, his peripheral vision caught Luke's hand making some sort of gesture; and suddenly the Imperial spun around in the opposite direction, pointing his blaster rifle towards a patch of empty floor. "He thinks he hears a noise," Luke whispered, "let's go."

Within moments, they were beside one of the X-wing's landing skids. "Artoo," Han stage-whispered up to the droid. "Come on, short stuff, wake up!"

A soft and rather indignant came from the socket in the X-wing. At the very least, the restraining bolt hadn't shut the little droid down. "Alright;" called Han, "here's how this is going to work:"

He explained his plan to them and they readied themselves. "Okay Lando. Go."

It was several long seconds before the distinct whine of repuslorlifts became audible over the background noise. The _Lady Luck_ rose from among the other docked ships and curses and blaster fire followed. Ponderously the ship began to turn and more weapons began firing on it. As the ship slowly made it's way towards Lando's new hiding place, Irenez whispered, "You know it'll never get there. As soon as they figure out where it's going, they'll be all over him."

Han gave a tight smile. "That's why it's not going to get to him. "

After another couple seconds, every Imperial soldier and stormtrooper in the area had their focus fixed on the rogue ship. "Ready, Luke... now!"

The young Jedi leaped onto his X-wing and ignited his weapon. With a whoosh and a sizzle, he removed the restraining bolt from his droid without even darkening the droids outer plating. "Restraining bolt's off;" he announced. "Now?"

"Not yet;" said Han. "I'll tell him when. You get ready to fly interference."

"Right;" and Luke dropped into the X-wing, powering up its own repulsorlifts.

There was no way that, over the whine of the _Lady Luck_ 's repulsorlifts, they would hear the X-wings, especially since they were all crowded around where the _Lady Luck_ was hovering. It was half way to the wall when Han yelled, "Okay, Lando, shut down. Artoo, your turn. Call it back this way."

The sudden change of direction caught the Imperials off guard. There was a halt in their firing which didn't resume until the yacht was nearly to the X-wing. "Now?" Luke called.

"Now;" Han confirmed, "Put 'er down and clear us a path."

The yacht lowered to the ground and the Imperials, thinking they had finally brought it down, gave a shout. The shout was short lived as the X-wing lifted into the air and swung around in an arc before blazing away at them. They scattered and, if they had the time, would regroup but Han had no intention of allowing that. "Come on;" he said to Irenez.

They made a mad dash to the _Lady Luck._ "Guard the hatch;" he snapped, "I'm going to go pick up Lando."

He pelted towards the cockpit. Luke continued to sweep around, reeking havoc as Han lifted into the air and went over to Lando's hiding spot. The stormtrooper that had been there was gone and Lando charged up the ramp. "We've got him;" called Irenez. "GO!"

Han swiveled the ship around and put full power to the repulorlifts, heading upward and into one of the city's huge exit ducts. There was a slight jolt as he cleared the magnetic seal and then they were clearing, screaming towards space. Four TIE's were skulking around just above the city, waiting for trouble. But they apparently weren't ready for the amount of trouble that Luke and Han could bring. Luke vaped three of them and Han got the forth in short order.

Lando plopped down into the copilot's seat and began tapping away at his instrument panel. "What are you doing?" asked Han.

"Running a multinsensor airflow analysis. It'll show up any large irregularities on the hull. Like if someone's attached a homing beacon on us."

Han remembered the mad dash from the Death Star those many years ago and muttered, "I wish I had a system like that for the _Falcon_."

Lando chuckled, "It'd never work. You hull's so irregular already, the system would go nuts just trying to map it."

After another moment, Lando sighed, "Okay, we're clear."

"Oh no we're not;" said Irenez and pointed.

The sensor display showed an Imperial Star Destroyer leaving orbit and pursuing them. "Great;" muttered Han before hitting the comms unit. "Luke?"

"I see it;" he said. "Any ideas besides running for it?"

"Running for it sounds like a great idea;" said Han. "Lando?"

"Calculating the jump now. It ought to be ready by the time we're far enough out."

Luke's voice sounded tense as he said, " There's another ship coming up from below - right out of the jungle."

"That's ours;" said Irenez. "You can parallel them by changing course to one twenty-six mark thrity."

The Star Destroyer had launched fighters in pursuit and Han said, "We'd do better to split up."

"No - stay with our ship. Sena said we've got help coming;" she insisted.

Han glanced at the Destroyer and at the light transport, which looked to be pretty fast but other than that, not much to speak of. "They're going to be in range before we can make the jump;" murmured Lando, audibly echoing Han's own thoughts.

"You'd better be right about that help, Irenez;" he muttered. "We have more TIE's coming in on the port side."

"I'll get rid of them;" said Luke before peeling off.

"Watch yourself;" muttered Han.

As they watched, Luke displayed his famed piloting and dogfighting skill, weaving through the TIE's and eliminating them, emerging from the cloud of debris unscathed. Irenez seemed slightly surprised. "Well so much for that group;" she murmured.

"Luke, you alright?" asked Lando.

"I'm fine but I don't think I can get back to you."

"Don't try;" said Han. "As soon as you can get clear, jump to lightspeed and get outta here."

"What about you?" Luke asked, his question garbled by a twitter from the comms.

Irenez smiled and said, "That's the signal. Here they come."

Han frowned, searching the area around them. He was about to comment that he didn't see anything when three ships suddenly dropped out of hyperspace in perfect unison and ended up directly in front of them. Lando gasped, "Those are old Dreadnought cruisers!"

"That's our help;" said Irenez. "Straight down the middle of their triangle. They'll cover for us."

As Han followed her instructions, the Dreadnoughts began to blast away at the Star Destroyer with ion cannons, clearly not willing to test their metal against and Imperial-Class Star Destroyer. As they did, Han contacted Luke, "That answer your question?"

"I think so; Okay, I'm gone. Where do I meet you?"

"You don't;" said Han. "Get back to Coruscant and we'll contact you there if we need you at all for the mission anymore."

"Roger that;" replied Luke. "Take care you two."

Lando glared at Han. "So now it's _my_ mission too, huh? I knew it. I just _knew_ it!"

Han didn't answer, turning to Irenez instead and asking, "You got any particular place you'd like us to drop you off?"

"Actually, our commander was rather hoping you'd accompany us back to our base;" she said rather offhandedly.

Han and Lando glanced at one another before the latter growled, "And just how hard was your commander hoping this?"

"Very much."

They both glared at her but it seemed pretty clear they had not choice until she said, "Don't misunderstand - it's not an order. But when I spoke to him, the commander seemed extremely interested in meeting again with Captain Solo."

"Again?" asked Han.

"Some old friend of you've never mentioned?" asked Lando just a little sourly.

"I don't recall having any friends who own Dreadnoughts;" Han countered, "What do you think?"

"I think I'm being nicely maneuvered into a corner;" retorted Lando, even more sourly. "Aside from that, whoever this commander is, he seems to be in contact with your Bothan pals. If you're trying to find out what Fey'lya's up to, he'd be the one to ask."

Lando was right, of course. But on the other hand, this whole thing could easily be a trap with talk about old friends being designed to lure him in. Even so, Irenez was sitting behind him with a blaster snugging her hip, not to mention the three Dreadnoughts. "Okay;" he said. "What course do we set?"

* * *

Luke watched as the Dreadnoughts and their charges flickered with pseudo motion and were gone. He was alone - with a Star Destroyer and a squadron of TIE fighters. "Alright, Artoo. We're going."

Swinging around, Luke pulled the hyperdrive lever and the stars turned to star-lines. He was very much looking forward to getting back to Coruscant.

* * *

 **Coruscant - The Imperial Palace High Council Chamber**

Mara readjusted her position in her chair in the council chamber. The further she got into her pregnancy, the harder it became to get comfortable. It didn't help that all of the High Councilors were looking at her and that Fey'lya was still pontificating on the terrible ghastliness and violation of her idea to investigate all the members of the High Council, their aides and the members of the Military command structure. "Further more;" the Bothan said smoothly, "to treat every member of this council and their aides as suspects of treason would be a massive blow to their moral and our credibility as a governing body. We are trying to restore the personal freedom of all beings in the galaxy. How can we do that if we are summarily treating every official member of the governing body as a potential criminal?"

"I'm so glad you asked;" said Mara, jumping in before the smarmy Bothan could continue his monologue.

He glared and was about to object when she said rather coldly, "We are building the confidence of the people by showing them that we are holding our leadership accountable, thereby checking their power. The fact that information, _vital_ information, is being leaked to our enemies, especially enemies like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Diabolis, is something that we cannot allow to continue. This kind of security breach in this situation is worse than having representatives and military leaders in the pocket of the Zann Consortium. Tyber Zann just used the information and contacts to continue to get rich and allow his corruption to spread through our government. Thrawn has and will continue to use it to acquire high value targets and to react to our actions if not directly manipulate them, or have you already forgotten Bpfassh and Sluis Van?"

Fey'lya snorted in disgust. "Mon Mothma, please! Jedi Jade Skywalker uses information to support her argument that has not yet even been verified. We do not know that there is any Grand Admiral or an alliance between the Imperial and the Sith Lords. As far as Sluis Van and Bpfassh, what little evidence we have points as much to Ackbar's incompetence, or treachery as it does to any other situation."

"Well then, let me investigate him;" snapped Mara, feeling her temper quickly beginning to fray. "I can follow the trail of the money that was transferred to his account. Tell me something, Madam President, how important is it that this leak is fixed?"

Mon Mothma looked back and forth between Mara and Fey'lya. With a sigh, she replied, "Of course it is of the utmost importance, Jedi Jade Skywalker but I worry about what the rigors of such an investigation would reveal of each of these being's personal lives."

Mara nodded, "I understand that, Madam President. I've handled military secrets my entire life. My record for confidentiality is unimpeachable. Rest assured that no one but myself and my single assistant will learn any of this. I promise on my oath as a Jedi Knight."

"Yes, most of your life being spent in the service of the Empire, of course;" said Fey'lya.

Before Mon Mothma could admonish him, Mara shrugged and said, "And every single mission that I conducted as the Emperor's Hand is a matter of public record. Every method I've used, every weapon in my arsenal, every life I've taken can be accessed by anyone who can read it. My whole life, before joined the Rebel Alliance, has been given to the media and they have done a twelve part series on it. Tell me something, Fey'lya, have you been so open with your life?"

The Bothan's fur rippled and his eyes narrowed. "I never served the enemy."

"We'll see now won't we?" said Mara before she glanced at Mon Mothma, "Assuming I have the green light."

Mon Mothma looked around. Many of the council still seemed skeptical. Suddenly, a smooth, harmonious and slightly sultry voice spoke. "I would gladly submit to any investigation myself but getting the records would take quite some time. Nevertheless, I have no problem with this."

Mara blushed ever so slightly. "Madam Ambassador;" and she paused before just saying, "Mesa, I wasn't going to include you! You are the representative of a separate, if allied, body."

Mesa Lorilli laughed musically and said, "Well who more than someone from another faction would have something to gain? I, of course, will submit myself to this investigation. I will have every one of my dealings ever since I arrived on Coruscant, every one of my media interviews and the minutes from every one of my officials meetings that you weren't a part of. I can even submit my consort for questioning if you'd like?"

A low murmur of laughter and amusement went through the room. Everyone knew that the young Jedi Knight Wade Vox was in a relationship with Mesa Lorilli, the Ambassador from the Hapes Consortium. That seemed to decide the issue for Mon Mothma and the others. "We will all submit to your background checks and investigation, Jedi Jade Skywalker. Where will you start?"

Mara gave a smile and stood carefully, yet still gracefully, to her feet. "We need our Supreme Commander back, Madam President. I'm going to start with the money that was deposited into Admiral Ackbar's bank account."

"And we trust that if you find that there was duplicity on his part, you will inform us;" said Fey'lya, doubt and mistrust clear in his voice.

Mara's cold, dangerous smile caused everyone to fidget in their seat. "If I find that Admiral Gial Ackbar is a traitor to the New Repbulic, rest assured, I will do everything in my power to see that he faces the consequences to the full extent of our law, Councilor Fey'lya. Of course, that goes for _anyone_ who the evidence shows to be traitorous. Remember that I did this for most of my life. I _will_ find the truth, no matter how hard anyone tries to hide it."

With that, she left the room, looking far more intimidating than any pregnant female ever should and leaving several of the council members highly uneasy, even if they truly had nothing to hide.


	7. Chapter 7: Slaves of the Empire

**Aboard the** ** _Millennium Falcon_** **\- Orbit over the forest moon of Endor**

The mysterious and unfamiliar fast-attack patrol ship had reverted to real space and gotten uncomfortably close to them before the _Falcon_ 's sensors even ever picked it up. While Chewie sat tensely in the pilot's seat, Leia dropped into the co-pilot's and activated the comms unit, tentatively hailing the ship. "Is that you, Khabarakh?"

"Yes, Lady Vader," came the gravelly mew in reply. "I have come alone as promised. Are you also alone?"

Leia winced internally but kept her voice entirely neutral. "My companion Chewbacca is with me as pilot, as is my protocol droid. I would like to bring the droid along to help translate if I may. Chewbacca, as agreed, will stay here."

The Wookiee looked at her and gave a growl.

"No," she said firmly, muting the transmission just in time to say it. "I'm sorry but that was the promise I made to Khabarakh. You'll stay here on the _Falcon_ , and that's an order."

Chewie growled again, even more insistently this time. It was at that moment that Leia remember something rather important. Chewbacca could ignore pretty much any order he pleased. "I have to go alone, Chewie;" she sadi in a low voice.

She knew that trying to outdo the Wookiee on will power wasn't going to work, so she would have to count on logic and reason. "Don't you understand? that was the agreement."

Again, Chewbacca objected but Leia shook her head. "No. My safety isn't a matter of strength anymore. My only chance is to convince the Noghri that I can be trusted. That when I make a promise, I keep it."

Over the comms, Khabarakh mewed, "The droid will pose no problem. I will bring my ship alongside for docking."

Leia unmuted her receiver and replied. "Fine. I also have one case of clothing and personal items to bring along, if I may. Plus a sensor/analyzer package to test the air and soil for anything that might be dangerous to me."

"The air and soil where we shall be is safe;" assured Khabarakh.

"I believe you;" reassured Leia, subconsciously placing a hand on her belly. "But I am not responsible only for my own safety. I carry within me two new lives, and I must protect them."

There was a hiss in the comms and Khabarakh asked, "Heirs of the Lord Vader?"

For only a moment, Leia hesitated before replying, "Yes."

It was true genetically, if not philosophically.

"You may bring what you wish," he said. "I must be allowed to scan them, though. Do you bring weapons?"

"I have my lightsaber. Are there any animals on your world dangerous enough for me to need my blasters?"

There was just a short pause before the Noghri answered grimly, "Not anymore. You lightsaber, too, will be acceptable."

Chewbacca gave another snarl and his wicked climbing _snicked_ in and out of their sheaths. Leia realized, with a sinking feeling, that the Wookiee was getting dangerously close to losing his composure.

Khabarakh heard it too. "What is the problem?" he demanded.

Leia's gut tightened and she had to remind herself that full disclosure and honesty would serve her best. "My pilot doesn't like the idea of me going off alone with you;" she admitted. "He is a - well, you wouldn't understand."

"He is under a life debt to you?"

Leia was at a loss for a moment, blinking wordlessly as the speaker. Khabarakh's comprehension was a surprise to say the least. "Yes; the original life debt was to my husband, Han Solo. During the war, Chewie extended it to include my brother and me."

"And now the children you bear within?"

Leia looked at Chewbacca, catching the fierce blue eyes. "Yes."

There was a long span of time that the comms were utterly silent, a span of time in which Leia gripped the arms of her chair with white knuckles, wondering what exactly the Noghri was contemplating. If he decided that Chewie's objections were tantamount to breaking their agreement- "The Wookiee code of honor is similar to our own;" returned the gravely voice, breaking in to Leia's anxiety. "He may come with you."

Chewbacca gave a throaty rumble of surprise. Quickly, surprise turned into suspicion. "Would you rather he have said you had to stay here?" asked Leia, her own surprise overruled by relief that the whole thing had been resolved with such ease. "Come on, make up your mind."

He rumbled again, clearly happier about walking into a trap with her than allowing her to walk into one all by herself.

Turning back to the comms, Leia said, "Thank you, Khabarakh, we accept. We'll be ready whenever you get here. How long will the trip to your world take, by the way?"

"Approximately four standard days," replied the Noghri. "I await the honor of your presence aboard my ship."

The comms went silent and a shiver went up Leia's back at the thought of four days aboard a recent enemy's ship. In those four days, Leia was determined to learn whatever Khabarakh could and would tell her about the Noghri people in preparation for quite possibly the most important diplomatic mission of her life.

* * *

Unfortunately, Khabarakh spent the majority of the trip to himself, giving Leia no time to question him on Noghri culture. He went silently back and fore between the cockpit and his cabin. On occasion, he would talk to her but the conversations were short and left Leia with the sneaking suspicion that Khabarakh wasn't at all sure of his decision to bring her to his homeworld.

Back on Kashyyyk where the arrangement was made, she had suggested that he discuss the decision with family or friends. However, the closer they got to the world and the more she talked to him, few and far between as such conversations were, a sneaking suspicion began to rise within her that Khabarakh had elected to _not_ do so. Not a very auspicious beginning to her self-assigned mission of diplomacy, as it implied either a lack of trust in his friends and family or a desire to absolve them from any and all responsibility should the whole thing go sour. Neither idea was conducive to a smooth negotiation process.

Chewbacca occupied his time looking through every corner of the small ship, studying every plate and panel in case the need to assume control ever arose. Leia, for her part, spent the time meditating and discussing any and all possible meanings of the Noghri word _Mal'ary'ush_. Unfortunately, due in part to the six million languages stored in his databanks, the possibilities for its meaning ranged from likely or at least possible to improbable and even ridiculous.

Towards the middle of the fourth tday, they reached the world of Honoghr - and it was worse than anything she had expected to see. White clouds covered an almost unbroken sphere of brown, relieved rarely by a deep blue of lakes or oceans. There were no signs of yellow or purple or any other color that suggested a healthy, live-giving planet. For all Leia could see, the whole planet was quite possibly dead.

Chewie gave a low growl.

"Yes, I know Khabarakh said it had been devastated in the war;" murmured Leia soberly. "But I didn't realize that he really meant the _whole_ planet had been hit."

Nausea began to creep in as she wondered which side had been most responsible for such a cataclysmic event. Immediately, she had to swallow a hard lump of defensiveness. There was no 'most responsible'. Khabarakh's planet had been destroyed by a space battle over his world. There had only been two sides to it. Whatever had happened to destroy this world, the Rebel Alliance were equally culpable for it. "No wonder the Emperor and Vader were able to turn them against us," she murmured. "We have to find some way to help them."

Chewie growled again, gesturing to the viewport. The terminator line was coming up over the horizon now, a fuzzy strip of twilight between day and night; and there, fading through the darkness beyond was what looked like an irregular patch of pale green. "I see it. You suppose that's all that's left?"

The Wookiee just shrugged and rumbled. Suddenly, he went stiff for just a moment before his roar of rage ripped through the air and left her ears ringing. "Chewie, what-" but then she saw it and he stomach churned. Over the curve of a planet, the spearhead shape of an Imperial Star Destroyer came into view. They'd been betrayed.

"No," she whispered, "No, I can't believe that Khabarakh would do this!"

The last words were spoken to empty air; and with a second shock, she realized that Chewbacca was no longer beside her. Spinning around, she saw a flash of brown as he vanished down the corridor leading to the cockpit.

"No;" she shouted after him, running to catch up. "Chewie, no!"

But it was so much wasted breath. The Wookiee was going to murder Khabarakh even if he had to rip the door down or plow it over to do so. One resounding clang was heard as she was only half way down the corridor. A second sounded as she went around the final bend in the corridor. As he came into her view, Chewie was lifting his massive hands for a third when, to both of their amazement, the door slid open. Chewie didn't stay surprised for long. He barreled through the door and lunged for the much smaller alien. "Chewie!" Leia snapped as she dove through after him.

She was just in time to see the Noghri warrior raise his hand and somehow send his much larger opponent spinning sideways from his seated position in the pilot's seat. Halting in her tracks in surprise, she said, "Khabarakh-"

"I did not call them," mewed the warrior. "I did not betray my word of honor."

Chewie roared his disbelief as he managed to climb back to his feet. "You must stop;" said Khabarakh, "you must keep him quiet while I give the recognition signal or all will be lost."

Leia glanced from him to the Star Destroyer out of the forward viewport, her jaw tight with indecision. Thus far since dropping into the system, Khabarakh had given not indication and made no move that suggested betrayal. Chewbacca had been allowed to accompany them. Even now, the Noghri wasn't looking at the threat, a towering Wookiee warrior bent on killing him. His dark eyes were fixed on Leia and his hand was over the comms switch. Just then, the board beeped and Khabarakh's hand twitched in response. "I have not betrayed you, Lady Vader," he repeated, a note of pleading and urgency in his gravelly voice. "You must believe me."

Making a decision she knew could mean the death of herself, Chewbacca and her unborn children, Leia snapped to the Wookiee, "Chewie, be quiet!"

It was so much wasted breath. "Chewie! CHEWIE! Be _quiet_."

But the Wookiee ignored the order. He was back on his feet and rushing toward Khabarakh. The Noghri warrior caught Chewie by the wrists, slowing but by no means halting their move towards his throat,"

"Chewie, I said stop;" commanded Leia.

She was contemplating blasting the Wookiee back with the force but wanted to save that as a very last resort. "Use your head - if he was planning a trap, don't you think he'd have timed it for when we were asleep or something?"

Chewbacca spat out a snarl in response but his hands continued unerringly towards their target. "But if he doesn't check in, they'll _know_ something's wrong. That's a sure way to bring them down on us."

"The Lady Vader speaks truth;" Khabarkh gritted out, his voice strained with trying to hold back Chewbacca's huge paws. "I have not betrayed you, but if I give no recognition signal you _will_ be betrayed."

"He's right;" said Leia, making one last attempt. "If they come to investigate, we lose by default. Come on, Chewie, it's our only hope."

But Chewie shook his had firmly. That was it. Leia stepped back and lifted her hands, literally pulling Khabarakh and Chewbacca apart and tossing the latter as lightly as possible towards the cockpit door with the force. "Do it, Khabarakh;" she commanded as she placed herself firmly between Chewie and the Noghri.

Chewie rose to his feet, snarling. "Enough, Chewbacca!" said Leia, putting just a little of the force behind her words.

It seemed to give him pause. "I understand the danger;" she said more calmly, stepping towards him. "I understand your concerns and fears but I trust Khabarakh and I don't sense any duplicity in him."

Chewie's blue eyes shot back and forth between her and their pilot, still filled with anger and fear. Leia reached down and took both of his massive paws. "Chewie, do you trust me?"

The anger left Chewie's eyes. "Then please follow my lead. We need to help these people - just like Han helped you and your people all those years ago. Maybe we can deliver the Noghri from their slavery to the Empire just like he did."

It was still very clear that the Wookiee was not happy. That was okay though because, if she was being honest, neither was Leia. Chewie nodded his head and Leia let go of his hands. "Thank you, Chewie."

She turned back to Khabarakh. The Noghri was facing them. "We are safe;" he said, eyeing Leia with a new respect. "I persuaded them that it was an equipment failure on the part of my comms board."

Leia nodded, fervently hoping that he was right. "I have not betrayed you, Lady Vader," he said quietly yet pleadingly. "you must believe me. I have promised to defend you and I will. To my own death, if need be."

Leia studied him and the depth of the situation he was in finally dawned on her. Whatever fear and doubt he had been harboring during the beginning of their four day star voyage, the sight of the Imperial Star Destroyer over his home world had burned them both away. It's presence had called into question his integrity and his honor. He was now in a position of having to conclusively and irrevocably prove that he had not compromised either of them.

"I believe you;" she said, going to the copilots seat and sitting down. "What now?"

"Now we must make a decision," he said. "My intention had been to bring you to ground in the city of Nystao, waiting until full dark to present you to the clan dynast. But that in now impossible. Our Imperial lord has come, and is holding a convocate of the dynasts,"

Leia's neck prickled. _Imperial Lord._ "You Imperial lord is Grand Admiral Thrawn?" she asked carefully.

"Yes;" rumbled Khabarakh. "That is his flagship the _Chimaera_. I remember the day that the Lord Darth Vader first brought him to us. The Lord Vader told us that his that his duties against the Emperor's enemies would now be taking his full attention. That the Grand Admiral would henceforth be our lord and commander."

An odd purring sound came from his chest. "There were many who were sad that day. The Lord Vader had been the only one save the Emperor who cared for Noghri well-being. He had given us hope and purpose."

Leia grimaced. That purpose being to die as the Emperor's private army of elite suicide commandos. But she had to be careful how she handled this whole thing. Instead, she murmured, "I hope they don't decide to do a sensor focus on us. If they pick up three life forms, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do. If Darth Diabolis is with him..." she didn't even bother finishing her sentence.

Khabarakh was silent for a long time before saying, "Darth Diabolis restored three of our commando units to us, a token of Alliance and good will to our lord the Grand Admiral and to us, the Noghri people."

Leia wasn't quite sure how to respond to that and before she could come up with anything, the Noghri said, "The ship's static-damping is at full power and should prevent any successful scans."

Leia frowned. "Aren't they likely to wonder about that?"

"No;" said Khabarakh. "I explained that it was part of the same malfunction that caused the transmitter problem."

Leia nodded. Chewie gave another low rumble. It was certainly uneasy but it was no longer threatening or angry. "I don't know, Chewie. Are you familiar with this ship enough to say one way or another?"

The Wookiee rumbled a negative. Khabarakh shrugged slightly, "It has been known to happen before - the static dampeners being triggered by a problem with the transmitter."

Leia and Chewie glanced at each other but remained silent. Khabarakh explained his plan to them. We will go to my home, a small village near the edge of the Clean Land. I will hide you there until our lord the Grand Admiral leaves."

* * *

As yet another Clan dynast stepped back into line, Captain Pellaeon shifted his feet and stifled a yawn. His impression of the trip had been that they were there to inspire the commando teams. However, at least up to that moment, the only commandos they had seen were members of the honor guard contingent that had met them at the shuttle. Currently, he was just standing there and waiting on a collection of clan leaders to finish their quaint little ceremony. As he waited, Pellaeon suddenly felt air movement on the back of his neck and heared a murmur. "Captain?"

It was the young Lieutenant Tschel. "Excuse me, sir, but Grand Admiral Thrawn asked to be informed immediately if anything out of the ordinary happened."

Pellaeon, honestly glad of even this minuscule interruption, nodded and asked, "What is it?"

"It doesn't seem dangerous, sir, or even very important;" confessed the Lieutenant. "A Noghri commando ship on it's way in almost didn't give the recognition response in time."

Pellaeon nodded, only mildly disappointed that it wasn't something more major. "Equipment trouble probably," Pellaeon murmured.

"That's what the pilot said;" confirmed Tschel. "The odd thing is that he begged off putting down at the Nystao landing area. You'd think that someone with equipment problems would want his ship looked at immediately."

"A bad transmitter isn't exactly a crisis-level problem;" grunted Pellaeon.

Even so, he had to admit that Tschel had a point. Nystao was the only place on Honogr with qualified spaceship repair facilities. "Do we have an ID on the pilot?"

"Yes sir. His name is Khabarakh, clan Kihm'bar. I pulled up what we have on him;" he said, offering Pellaeon a datapad.

Pellaeon took it and began to glance over it and wondered what he was supposed to do now. Thrawn had left instructions that he was to be notified of any unusual activity anywhere in the system. But this seemed like something far to insignificant to interrupt the welcoming ceremony going on right now. "You have something to report, Captain?"

Pellaeon looked up and saw that the Noghri were waiting silently and patiently while Thrawn gazed at Pellaeon. Clearing his throat and stepping to Thrawn's side, the captain replied, "A small anomaly only, sir. An incoming commando ship was slow to transmit its recognition signal, and then declined to put down at the Nystao landing are. Probably just an equipment problem."

"Probably;" agreed Thrawn, his voice particularly thoughtful. Was the ship scanned for for evidence of the malfunction?"

"Ah..." Pellaeon looked over the report again, "the scan was inconclusive. The ship's static-damping was strong enough to block-"

"The ship was static-damped?" asked Thrawn sharply.

"Yes, sir."

Wordlessly, Thrawn held up his hand. Pellaeon gave him the datapad, and for a moment, the Grand Admiral frowned down at it, skimming the report. "Khabarakh, Clan Kihm'bar;" he murmured to himself. "Interesting."

He looked back up at Pellaeon. "Where did the ship go?"

Pellaeon looked in turn at Lieutenant Tschel. "According to the last report, it was headed south;" the lieutenant said. "It might still be in range of our tractor beams, sir."

Pellaeon turned back to Thrawn. "Should we try, Admiral?"

"No;" said Thrawn after a short silence. "Let it land but track it. And order a tech team from the _Chimaera_ to meet us at the ship's final destination."

His glowing red eyes swept over the gathered clan dynasts before settling on one. "Dynast Ir'khaim, clan Kihm'bar, step forward."

The Noghri in question obeyed. "Yes, my lord?" he mewed.

"One of your people has come home;" said Thrawn, standing to his feet. "We go to his village to welcome him home."

Ir'khaim bowed. "At my lord's request."

"Order the shuttle to be prepared, Captain. We leave at once."

"Yes sir;" said Pellaeon, passing the order on to Lieutenant Tschel with a curt nod.

While the lieutenant issued the orders, Pellaeon asked, "Wouldn't it be easier, sir, to have the ship and pilot brought here to us?"

"Easier, perhaps," Thrawn acknowledged, "but possibly not as illuminating. You obviously didn't recognize the pilot's name; but Khabarakh, clan Kihm'bar, was once a part of commando team twenty-two. Does _that_ jog any memory?"

Pellaeon's stomach tightened. "That was the team that went after Leia Organa Solo on Kashyyyk."

"And of which team, only Khabarakh still survives;" Thrawn added with a nod. "I think it might be instructive to hear from him the details of that failed mission. And to find out just why he's trying so hard to avoid us;" he finished, his eyes glittering and his voice ice cold.

* * *

 **Coruscant - The Imperial Palace**

Luke hopped off of his X-wing before turning and lowering Artoo to the 'crete beside him. He patted the fighter affectionately. Recently, he had come to miss flying his favorite starfighter with the numerous TIE's and such painted on its outer hull to mark his kills. Tucking his helmet under his arm, he began to head towards the airspeeder docks when Mara brushed his mind. She was there at the palace. Luke frowned and stopped, causing Artoo to bump gently into the back of his legs. _Mara? Why are you at the palace?_

The reply was short and slightly distracted. _Working on my investigating. Wade's helping too. Come see me in old Palpy's personal library. It's right off where the old throne room used to be._

Luke shrugged and changed direction, heading towards the lifts. _I'll see you up there. I'm going to stop and get changed first, though._

 _Hurry up;_ was Mara's teasing response.

Luke chuckled and put a little extra energy in his movements.

Mara was leaning back in her chair at one monitor while Wade seemed to be jumping back and forth excitedly between three. Luke leaned down and kissed her. "Hey there;" he whispered, as if worried to break Wade's manic concentration. Mara chuckled and said, "Hey yourself. Watch this, it will happen again any second now."

They watched Wade. Suddenly, as if of its own volition, the screen focused on a particular file which opened and was downloaded to a glowing cube sitting on a strange flat plate-like object which was plugged into the central monitor. It looked as though Wade was somehow controlling all three of them. One file after another were being shunted into the cube - a datacron, Wade called it. It was similar to a holocron except that it didn't project a gate keeper or speak. In fact, it was little more than a massive storage unit and processor of electronic information. To put information in, one simply set it on the specialized reading pad and plugged the pad into a datajack. To take it out, they did the same thing, only in reverse.

Luke was highly impressed. "Wow..." he murmured. "What are you having him search information on?"

"He's finishing up his Thrawn project at the moment. After that, I'm going to have him look through the whole security system of the palace and attempt to find where this info leak is - assuming that it's a leak through our computers and not just a spy in our midst."

Luke nodded and then mentioned, "You know, Kanan, Hera, Ezra, Sabine, Zeb and Chopper all ran afoul of Thrawn way back before the battle of Yavin. Apparently, they were the cause of Thrawn being demoted form Grand Admiral to Captain."

Mara nodded slowly. "That's right. I remember that now. He was assigned to Jerec's Star Destroyer the _Vengeance_. His failure on Lothal and the setback of the TIE Defender program upset the Emperor. This in turn caused Palpatine to focus on the idea of a superweapon - namely the Death Star project. It was more than half finished at that point - that is to say, the first was more than half finished. I'm having Wade search to get some details on him if there are any."

Luke nodded, amusement coloring his senses. Mara looked at him. "What's so funny, Skywalker?"

Luke resisted the urge to laugh, electing wisely instead to shrug. "Nothing. What are you working on exactly?"

Mara took Luke's chin in her hands and kissed him before asking again, "What's so funny, Skywalker?"

Luke chuckled. "You're still conning Wade into most of your research."

Wade suddenly objected. "Are you kidding? She didn't con me! I'm having more fun than I've had in years doing this. This Grand Admiral Thrawn is a seriously intelligent customer, Luke. Just wait until I show you some of his stuff."

Mara smirked. "See? He _wants_ to do it! Now, I'm looking into the mystery deposit into Ackbar's account."

"Best guess?" asked Luke.

"Someone from Imperial space wanted to give Ackbar a really swell birthday present;" she said sardonically.

Luke and Wade both laughed. "In all seriousness though;" she continued. "it's pretty obvious that this is a smear job in my opinion. The problem is proving it. I highly doubt that the High Council will just take my word for it."

"What can we use as even circumstantial evidence?" asked Luke.

Mara shrugged. "Well the fact that Ackbar didn't do it himself. I was actually about to dig in to any and all communications he may have made from the palace - from his residence, from the comms rooms, from any of the computer stations, from the archives-"

"From the fresher, from the bedroom, from the kitchen;" continued Luke dryly.

"You know me so well;" chuckled Mara. "But yes. But I think I'll save that one for Wade and his super force technopathy."

"Mara..." said Luke chidingly.

"So I'm a little hungry. Are you hungry? I could go for a nerf steak..." and Luke waited just a moment before her eyes closed and she said rather dreamily, "with miasma sauce."

Truthfully, that wasn't the strangest craving she'd had since her pregnancy began. "Sounds good. I'll start on that for you as soon as I get home. Anything else?"

"Hmmm... sliced meiloorun?"

Luke just looked at her. "Seriously?"

Mara pouted and rubbed her swollen abdomen. "Yes, please."

Luke sighed and kissed her before saying, "As my fair lady wishes."

He headed out and back towards the speeder platforms when someone called him. Turning, he saw Winter gliding towards him. "General Skywalker, Intelligence intercepted something that you might be interested in."

Luke took the datapad and glanced over it, his eyes widening. "Are they sure about this?"

"As sure as they can be. We don't really get a lot of reports about Jedi artifacts and the like these days."

The report stated that a treasure trove of Jedi artifacts had been found on Raxus Prime, a planet that could only be described as a junk yard. Because of the volume of raw materials there, shipyards had been constructed twice now - once by the Empire and once, more recently by the New Republic. A massive space dry-dock was in the atmosphere and large load hauling transports with specialized scanners would fly down to the planets junk-covered surface and scan until they found the particular material they needed and haul it up. "I guess it's not all that surprising. I mean, that planets been an industrial/junkyard world for millennia now so it shouldn't surprise me that some Jedi artifacts might have made it there. I'll put a team together and we can go check it out but not immediately."

"Just let me know when you are departing, General, and I'll be sure to tell the local defense commander."

Luke gave her a patient look. "Winter, I'm not a General anymore. You know that."

"I do;" she agreed, "however, it's difficult even now for me to address you so informally."

Luke nodded. "Alright but do please try."

Winter gave the tiniest frown and said, "I will... Luke."

"See, that wasn't so hard. Thanks for bringing me this, Winter. I appreciate it."

He gave her arm a gentle squeeze and headed towards the air speeder pads, contemplating the fortuitous finding of a tidy collection of Jedi relics - and not trusting them one little bit. He was sure that it was a trap set by Thrawn and Diabolis and Luke intended to trip it, turning the trap on it's owners and causing them to bight off more than they could chew.


	8. Chapter 8: Lord of the Noghri

**Honoghr - Village of Clan Khim'bar**

Nightfall had come when Khabarakh set his ship down in his village. It was a tight cluster of huts with brightly lit windows. Leia took it all in with a heavy heart. Their war had caused these beings to be pushed into these little pockets. "Do ships land here often?" she asked the Noghri warrior as he nestled the ship beside a large central structure.

"It is not common;" he replied, "Neither is it unheard of."

Leia's gut tightened a little, translating his words to mean that it would attract a fair amount of attention. Chewie gave a low growl indicating that he agreed with her assessment.

"The villagers are all close family of the clan Kihm'bar," Khabarakh said in response to Chewie's assertion. "They will accept my promise of protection as their own. Come."

They unstrapped and stood, following the Noghri back through the ship, suppressing her anxiety and hoping fervently that Khabarakhs confidence wasn't solely based on youthful idealism. After collecting See-Threepio from the cabin on the way out. "I must go first;" warned Khabarakh as they reached the exit ramp. "By custom, I must approach alone to the _dukha_ of the clan Kihm'bar upon arrival. By law, I am required to announce out-clan visitors to the head of my family."

"I understand," Leia said, fighting back a fresh surge of uneasiness.

She didn't like this business of Khabarakh having conversations with his fellow Noghri that she wasn't in on. Once again, there wasn't a lot she could do about it. "We'll wait here until you com and get us."

"I will be quick;" promised the Noghri.

He palmed the door release twice, slipping outside as the panel slid open and then shut again.

Chewbacca growled something unintelligible, probably his own doubts and suspicions, under his breathe. "He'll be back;" Leia murmured in order to soothe him.

"I am certain he is telling the truth," said Threepio, attempting to be helpful. "Customs and rituals of this sort are very common among the more socially primitive prespaceflight cultures."

"Except this culture isn't prespaceflight," Leia said, he gripping her lightsaber even as it was clipped to her belt.

She fervently wished that Khabarakh had at least left the hatch open so that they could see when he was coming back. Assuming, of course he _wanted_ her to see him coming back. Threepio was continuing to monologue. "That is evident, your Highness. I feel certain, however, that their status in that regard has been changed only recent- Well!"

Chewbacca pushed passed him to head back towards the center of the ship. "Where are you going?" demanded Leia.

His only reply was some comment about Imperials she wasn't able to make out. "Chewie, get back here;" she called. "Khabarakh will be back any minute."

This time, he didn't even bother replying. "Great!" muttered Leia.

Her first instinct was to try and drag him back so that the Noghri wouldn't return and find the Wookiee gone - but if he came back and found her gone as well, that would be worse. "As I was saying," said Threepio, not at all fazed by the interruption by the rude Wookiee, "all the evidence I have gathered so far about this culture indicates that they were until recently a non-spacefaring people. Khabarakh's reference to the _dukha_ \- obviously a clan center of some sort - the familial and clan structures themselves, plus this whole preoccupation with your perceived royal status-"

"The high court of Alderaan had a royal hierarchy, too," Leia reminded him rather tartly, still looking back along the empty corridor.

No, she decided, she and Threepio had better stay and wait for Khabarakh. "Most other people in the galaxy didn't consider us to be socially primitive."

"No, of course not!" said Threepio, sounding embarrassed and mildly alarmed. "I didn't mean to imply any such thing!"

"I know;" soothed Leia, suddenly slightly embarrassed as herself for jumping the droid that way. She knew he meant no harm.

"Where _is_ he, anyway?"

Of course, she hadn't expected an answer of any kind so when the hatch abruptly opened, she started. "Come;" said Khabrakh before noticing that Chewie wasn't with them. "Where is the Wookiee?"

"He went back into the ship," Leia replied. "I don't know why. Do you want me to go and find him?"

Khabarakh made a purring, hissing noise. "There is no time," he growled. "The maitrakh is waiting. Come."

Turning, he started down the ramp. "Any idea how long it will take you to pick up the language?" Leia asked Threepio as they followed.

"I really cannot say, your Highness. Learning an entirely new language would be difficult indeed;" explained the droid, "but if it is similar to any of the six million forms of communication with which I am familiar-"

"I understand;" said Leia, cutting him off.

They had been lead through a dirt courtyard towards the larger building. It was well lighted and as they approached, a pair of even shorter Noghri pulled oped the double doors for them.

Taking one deep, steadying breath, Leia followed her guide inside. From the amount of light coming through the windows, she would have expected, she would have expected the interior to be almost uncomfortably bright. So she was quite surprised when the room she entered was even darker than it had been immediately outside. A cursory examination showed why. What had first appeared to be windows were actually self-powered lighting panels. The interior of the building was only lit by a pair of floating wick-lamps. Apparently, once again, Threepio had known what he was talking about when he analyzed the Noghri.

Facing her in the center of the room stoop five Noghri, all in a row. She swallowed hard, sensing somehow that the first words should be theirs. Khabarakh stepped to the Noghri in the center, dropped to his knees, ducking his head to the floor and splaying out his hands to his sides. It was, Leia remembered, the same gesture he had extended to her back on Kashyyyk.

The young warrior spoke in his own tongue. "Can you understand it?" Leia asked Threepio under her breath.

"To a degree," the droid replied. "It appears to be a dialect of the ancient trade language-"

" _Sha'vah_!" the Noghri in the center of the line spat.

"She said be quiet;" murmured Threepio.

"I got the gist;" replied Leia.

She drew herself to her full height and brought the full weight of her upbringing in the Royal Alderaan Court to bear upon the aliens. It was important to observe the local customs and authorities of her hosts, but as the daughter of the Lord Darth Vader, there were some discourtesies she would not put up with. Regally, she demanded, "Is this how you speak to the _Mal'ary'ush_?"

All six of the Noghris' head snapped around to look at her. Reaching out with the force, Leia could sense that there was mingled doubt and nervousness among them. "I asked a question!" she said in the silence.

The Noghri at the center took a step forward. "Maitrakh?" Leia murmured to Threepio.

"A female who is a leader of a local family or subclan structure;" answered the droid, his voice clearly nervous after being yelled at.

"Thank you;" Leia murmured before turning her focus back onto the Noghri. "You are the maitrakh of this family?"

"I am she," replied the Noghri in heavily accented but understandable basic. "What proof do you off to you claim of _Mal'ary'ush_?"

Leia held out her hand to the maitrakh who hesitated a moment before stepping forward to her and gingerly sniffing. Khabarakh asked, "Is it not as I said?"

"Be silent, thirdson," said the maitrakh as she lifted her head to stare into Leia's eyes. "I greet you, Lady Vader, but I do not welcome you."

Leia held her gaze steadily. Through the force, she sensed the doubt ease but the apprehension only grew. Her sense also picked up something else; Chewbacca had left the ship and was rapidly approaching the house, his force signature tense with agitation. Leia fervently hoped that the big Wookiee would not smash his way in and end the barely civil discussion. "May I ask why not?"

"Did you serve the Emperor?" the maitrakh countered. "Do you now serve our lord, the Grand Admiral?"

"No to both questions;" answered Leia firmly.

"Then you bring discord and poison among us," the maitrakh concluded darkly. "Discord between what was and what now is. We do not need more discord on Honoghr, Lady Vader."

Before Leia could even think of a reply, the doors swung open and Chewbacca came in with a snarl. "Are you sure they're Imperials?" asked Leia as a cold fist squeezed her heart and gut.

Chewie growled an impatient affirmative, mentioning Lambda-class shuttles that were coming from the direction of the principle city. Khabarakh spoke urgently to the maitrakh. "He says he has sworn to protect us and asks that the pledge be honored."

For what seemed like forever, the maitrakh didn't answer. Finally, she sighed and bowed her head. "Come with me;" said Khabarakh, moving towards the door. "The maitrakh has agreed to hide you from our lord, the Grand Admiral - at least for now."

"Where are we going?" asked Leia.

"Your droid and your analyses equipment I will hide among the decon droids that are stored for the night in an outer shed," he explained. "You and the Wookiee will be more of a problem. If the Imperials have sensor equipment with them, your life-sing profiles will register as different from Noghri."

"I know;" said Leia, keeping an eye on the dark sky above for the shuttles' running lights and trying to remember all of the algorithms for life-sign identification. "We need a heat source;" she told Khabarakh. "As big a one as possible."

"The bake house;" said the Noghri, pointing towards a windowless building not far from them.

"Sounds like our best chance. Khabarakh, hide Threepio; Chewie, come with me."

* * *

The Noghri were waiting for them as they stepped from the shuttle. Three females stood side by side in a row in the courtyard and the two children acting as door wardens to the clan's _dukha_ building.

Thrawn gave the group and the surrounding area an evaluating sweep before turning to Pellaeon. "Wait here until the tech team arrives, Captain;" he ordered quietly, "Get them started on a check of the communications and countermeasures equipment in the ship over there. Then join me inside."

"Yes, sir."

The Grand Admiral turned to Ir'khaim. "Dynast," he invited, gesturing at the waiting Noghri.

The dynast bowed and strode towards them. Thrawn threw a glance at Rukh, who'd taken Ir'khaim's former position at the Grand Admiral's side, and together, they followed. There was the usual welcoming ritual, and then the females led the way into the dukha.

After the shuttle arrived and after he had fulfilled his orders from the Grand Admiral, Captain Pellaeon hurried to _dukha_ , rather surprised at the number that the maitrakh had managed to drum up almost half the village. The dynast stood beside Thrawn while the three females faced him with a second tier of elders behind them.

As Pellaeon stepped to Thrawn's side opposite of Ir'khaim, a young Noghri bowed and mewed, "I greet you, my Lord. You honor my family and clan Kihm'bar with your presence here."

"You may rise;" said Thrawn. "You are Khabarakh, clan Kihm'bar?"

"I am, my lord."

Thrawn studied him. "you were once a member of Imperial Noghri team twenty-two. A team that ceased to exist on the planet Kashyyyk. Tell me what happened."

Khabarakh might have twitched but Pellaeon couldn't tell for sure. "I filed a report, immediately upon leaving that world."

"Yes, I read the report;" said Thrawn, his voice cooling somewhat. "Read it very carefully, and noted the questions it left unanswered. Such as how you managed to survive while all others in your team were killed. You escaped three Jedi, not to mention the Wookiees after the planet had been fully alerted to your presents. And why did you not return to Honoghr or to one of our other bases after your failure."

This time, Pellaeon definitely saw a twitch at the word failure. "I was left unconscious by the Wookiees and the Jedi during the first attack," said Khabarakh. "I awakened alone and made my way back to the ship. Once there, I deduced what had happened to the rest of the team from official information sources. I suspect they simply were unprepared for the speed and stealth of my ship when I made my escape. As to my whereabouts afterward, my lord-" and he hesitated. I transmitted my report, and then left for a time to be alone."

Thrawn's red eyes looked like tiny coals ready to burn into the Noghri. "Why?"

"To think, my lord, and to meditate."

"Wouldn't Honoghr have been more suitable place for such meditation?" asked the Grand Admiral, motioning to the _dukha_ around them.

"I had much to think about, my lord."

Thrawn rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You were slow to respond when the request for a recognition signal came from the surface," he finally siad. "You then refused to land at the Nystao port facilities."

"I did not refuse;" protested Khabarakh. "I was never ordered to land there."

One blue-black eyebrow lifted. "The distinction is noted;" Thrawn said dryly. "Tell me why you chose to come here instead."

"I wished to speak with my maitrakh. To discuss my meditation with her, and to ask for forgiveness for... my failure."

"And have you done so?" Thrawn asked, turning to face the maitrakh.

"We have begun," she said in mangled basic. "We have not finished."

Suddenly, the _dukha_ doors opened and one of the tech team came in. "You have a report, Ensign?" Thrawn asked him.

"Yes Admiral. We've finished out preliminary set of comm and countermeasures tests, sir, as per orders." said the Ensign smartly.

"And?"

"We think we've located the malfunction, sir. The main transmitter coil seems to have overloaded and back-fed into a dump capacitor, damaging several nearby circuits. The compensator computer rebuilt a pathway, but the bypass was close enough to one of the static-damping command lines for the resulting inductance surge to trigger it."

Thrawn rubbed his chin and turned his glowing red eyes back on Khabarakh. "An interesting set of coincidences. A natural malfunction, do you think, or an artificial one?"

The maitrakh stirred but a glance from Thrawn made her still again. The tech continued, "Impossible to say, sir. Someone who knew what he was doing could probably have pulled it off. I have to say, though, sir, that compensator computers in general have a pretty low reputation among mechanics. They're okay on the really serious stuff that can get unskilled pilots into big trouble, but on noncritical reroutes like this, they've always had a tendency to foul up something else along the way."

"Thank you."

If Thrawn was annoyed that he hand't caught Khabarakh red-handed in a lie, it didn't show in his face. "You team will take the ship back to Nystao for repairs."

"Yes, sir;" the tech replied with a salute and departed.

Turning fully back to Khabarakh, he said. "With your team destroyed, you will of course have to be reassigned," he said. "When you ship has been repaired you will fly it to the Valrar base in Glythe sector and report there for duty."

"Yes, my lord," said Khabarakh.

Thrawn stood to his feet. "You have much to be proud of here;" the Grand Admiral said to the maitrakh. "Your family's service to the clan Kihm'bar and to the Empire will be long remembered by all of Honoghr."

"As will you leadership and protection of the Noghri people," the maitrakh responded.

With Rukh to one side and Ir'khaim on the other, Thrawn headed to the double doors. Captain Pellaeon fell in at the rear and they went out into the chilly night air, all the Noghri filing out after them. The shuttle was ready for them when they reached it and a minute later, they were lifting off the ground.

"Well that was pleasant;" muttered Pellaeon.

"A waste of time do you think, Captain?" asked Thrawn dryly.

Pellaeon glanced at Ir'khaim, seated farther toward the front of the shuttle. The dynast didn't seem to be listening to them, but it would probably still pay to be tactful. "Diplomatically, sir, I'm sure it was worthwhile to demonstrate that you care about all of Honoghr, including the other villages," he said to Thrawm. "Given that the commando ship really _had_ malfunctioned, I don't think anything else was gained."

Thrawn turned to stare out the side viewport. "I'm no so sure of that, Captain," he murmured. "There's something not quite right back there. Rukh, what's you reading of the young commando Khabarakh?"

"He was unsettled," the bodyguard told him quietly. "That much I saw in his hand and his face."

Ir'khaim swiveled around in his chair. "It is a naturally unsettling experience to face the lord of the Noghri;" he stated.

Rukh sneered back, "Particularly when one's hands are wet with failure!"

Ir'khaim half rose from his seat and the air between the two Noghri thickened with tension. Pellaeon unconsciously leaned back hard against his seat back, remembering something about nasty clan rivalries. "This mission has generated several failures;" Thrawn said calmly into the taut silence. "In that, clan Kihm'bar hardly stands alone."

Slowly and still glaring at Rukh, Ir'khaim resumed his seat. "Khabarakh is still young," he said.

"He is indeed;" agreed Thrawn. "One reason, I presume, why he is such a bad liar. Rukh, perhaps the Dynast Ir'khaim would enjoy the view from the forward section. Please escort him there."

"Yes, my Lord."

Rukh stood to his feet and motioned forward. "Dynast Ir'khaim?"

The dynast was quite reluctant and it even looked as though he might refuse but then, he slowly rose and bowed, "My lord;" he murmured stiffly, and headed down the aisle. Once the door to the forward section had closed behind them, Thrawn turned back to Pellaeon. "Khabarakh is hiding something;" he said, cold fire in his glowing eyes. "I'm certain of it."

Pellaeon had learned in the preceding year not to doubt the Grand Admiral. "Yes sir," he said, still wondering how his superior would ascertain the answer or how he could be so sure. "Shall I order a sensor focus on the village?"

"That's not what I meant;" said Thrawn, waiving aside the suggestion. "He wouldn't have brought anything incriminating back to Honoghr with him - you can't hide anything for lon in one of these close-knit villages. No, it's something he's not telling us about that missing month. The one where he claims he was off meditating by himself."

"We might be able to learn something form his ship," Pellaeon suggested.

"Agreed," Thrawn nodded. "Have a scanning crew go over it before the techs get to work. Every cubit millimeter of it, interior and exterior both. And have Surveillance put someone on Khabarakh."

"Ah - yes, sir," Pellaeon said, "One of our people, or another Noghri?"

Thrawn lifted a blue-black eyebrow. "The ridiculously obvious or the heavily political, in other words?" he asked dryly. "Yes, you're right of course. Let's try a third option: does the _Chimaera_ carry any espionage droids?"

Pellaeon frowned and punched into one of the shuttle's computers. After a moment, he said, "No, sir. We have some Arakyd Viper probe droids, but nothing of the more compact espionage class. Though Diabolus's Dark Jedi might have brought something of Tyber Zann's collection with them."

Thrawn stroked his chin. "Doubtful; I'm fairly certain the Dark Jedi only brought their weapons and other personal effects with them. No, I think we'll settle with a little improvisation, Captain. Have Engineering put a Viper motivator into a decon droid and rig it with full-range optical and auditory sensors and recorder. We'll have it put in with the group working out of Khabarakh's village."

"Yes, sir;" said Pellaeon, keying in the order. "Do you want a transmitter installed, too?"

"No, a recorder should be sufficient. The antenna would be difficult to conceal from view. The last thing we want is for some curious Noghri to see it and wonder why this one was different."

Pellaeon nodded his understanding. "Yes, sir. I'll have the order placed right away."

Thrawn shifted his eyes back to the viewport. "There's no particular rush here," he said thoughtfully, "Not now. This is the calm before the storm, Captain; and until the storm is ready to break, we will spend our time and energy inspiring and motivating the Noghri with my presence here."

Pellaeon frowned slightly. "For how long, Admiral."

A thin smile crossed Thrawn's face. "For as long as it takes."

* * *

 **Coruscant - The Jedi Order's Headquarters**

Everything had been set out for dinner when Mara walked in. Luke could be heard moving around the kitchen unit of the suite, humming some song or another to himself and murmuring. On two plates were the best cuts of nerf steak that money could buy with small bowls of the miasma sauce next to them. Neatly sliced meiloorun was arranged on a platter with another sweet dipping sauce that she normally would have enjoyed but at the moment didn't look at all appetizing to her. There was also a basket of soft rolls and salads as well. When Luke came in with a platter of tubers, fried and sliced into sticks, Mara began to get suspicious. "Wow;" she said. "You really went all out. You usually aren't this extreme unless we're having guests..." and then she narrowed her emerald eyes at him. "...or you have bad news. What is it, Skywalker?"

Luke chuckled and set the platter down. "It's not all that terrible, I promise. I know not all of this looks appetizing but if you don't eat it, I'll have leftovers for later. How is the investigation going?"

Mara _hmmphed_ at his change of subject as she went over to the chair and sat down in it. Her stomach growled at the smell of the food and her mouth began to water. "It's going. We hit a dead end with the financial thing. It was clearly put there by a slicer who made it appear to come from Imperial space but I doubt that it will be enough to clear Ackbar just yet because of Sluis Van. Regardless, I'm going to send the report to Mon Mothma and recommend that I continue on the investigation."

Luke nodded as he poured them both some water. "What else would you like to drink?" he asked.

Mara pulled a face and growled, "A nice Naboo miscote but that isn't an option, is it?"

"I'm afraid not, dearest;" said Luke, patting her arm sympathetically.

"Fine. Do we have any blue milk?"

It was all the farm boy could do not to laugh. Mara normally despised blue milk but he knew that, by the way she was glaring at him, if he laughed then he was in danger of bodily harm. "Coming right up. Any clues as to the spy or spies in our midst?"

"Not a one just yet. There have been no comms traffic that is suspect, at least not yet. Wade programmed us an algorithm to try and track it but thus far, we have nothing."

Luke nodded as he sat down and they dug in. As they sliced their steak, Mara asked, "So, my beloved husband, what news do you have that 'isn't all that terrible'?"

Luke took a sip of water before answering, "Intelligence picked up word that a cash of Jedi artifacts was found on Raxus Prime. Winter brought me the info and tomorrow, I was going to go to the masters and get permission to put a recovery team together."

Mara nodded slowly, chewing a piece of steak she had dipped in the miasma sauce. After swallowing and washing it down with blue milk, she answered, "Raxus Prime, you say? I suppose it makes sense. That place has been a junkyard world for centuries if not millennia. I do have a couple questions though."

"If they were there all along, why didn't Galen sense them the two times he was there back during the war?" asked Luke. "And what was the intelligence source? Finally, doesn't it all seem just a little to convenient?"

Mara nodded and speared another piece of steak. "Do you have any answers, Detective Skywalker?"

Luke chuckled and selected a slice of the fruit. "No definitive ones. To the first, they probably weren't there. The second, a group of pirates communicating with one another. Apparently NRI said that the algorithms caught the words Jedi, death, New Republic, Empire and several others which triggered the selection. Analysts listened to the transmission and apparently the pirates didn't think it was worth getting paid by the Empire to earn the ire of the New Republic or the Jedi Order."

Mara snorted as she swallowed another bite of steak. "Why isn't that _lucky_ for us? I'm sure that there is _no way_ that it's a trap."

Luke nodded. "The Jedi stuff will be a great prize and all that but I'm far more interested in hopefully being able to turn a trap on some of Diabolis's Dark Jedi. Who knows? The Dark Lord himself might even be there."

Mara's fork clattered to the table. "Please don't say that Luke!" she begged. "Don't you remember Dathomir?"

"I do;" he said, reaching across and taking her hand. She gripped his with desperate strength. "I plan to get one of the masters to come with us, not to mention a few of the others. I'm also hoping that I can get Mandalore Wren to lend us some of her super commandos."

Mara's lower lip began to tremble and then she scowled, annoyed at her own turbulent emotions. "Please be careful;" she said, still gripping his hand. "I won't be there to keep you out of trouble."

Luke smiled and kissed her hand. "You know that I will. Now eat up. You and the baby need it."

Mara smiled and focused back on her food. For some time, they ate in silence and, much to Luke's amusement, Mara had decided that she wanted the sweet dipping sauce meant for the meiloorun. Instead of the fruit, however, she was dipping her fried tuber sticks in it. The meiloorun, naturally, was also being dipped int he miasma sauce with the nerf steak. When the food was eaten and cleared away, Mara yawned and went over to the couch. "Can you get my shoes please?" she asked, suddenly very tired.

Luke smiled. He happily untied her shoes and pulled them off, rubbing her feet as he did. Mara gave a moan and leaned back. "Feels good." she murmured.

Within minutes, she was sounds asleep. Luke didn't move. He was perfectly content to sit there with his wife, lean back and sleep that way. He could shower and change in the morning.

* * *

Luke had kissed Mara goodbye at zero-seven-hundred and gone straight to the main meeting room, comming Galen Marek, Kanan Jarrus and the Jedi Knights who were still on Coruscant and asking for a meeting. When they were all gathered, Luke explained the situation with the Jedi artifacts. Just as he and Mara had, the others were skeptical. "It's a trap;" said Galen Marek. "If there were Jedi artifacts in a cache of the size those alleged pirates were talking about, I would have sensed it at least on my second trip when Raxus Prime was freed from Kazdan Paratus's control."

"I figured;" said Luke. "However, I think this might be an opportunity to thin Diabolis's ranks. If we're lucky, he might even be there himself."

"Lucky?" asked Kanan, lifting an eyebrow. "The last time you faced the Dark Lord in combat, he nearly killed through of you and managed to kill two others. I don't think that a few artifacts are worth risking our lives for at the moment."

Luke lifted a hand. "I would agree accept that if we were to put together a team including myself, Ezra, Ferroda and one of you two, we'd stand a chance. I was also going to get in contact with Mandalore Wren and see if she can loan us some super commandos."

Ezra Bridger, a Jedi Knight and member of Mandalorian Clan Vizsla, chuckled and said, "I hate to bust your bubble, Luke but I doubt she can spare the manpower considering the current political climate on the planet of Mandalore."

Luke shrugged, unfazed. "Okay, we can put another team together. Look, I personally just think it would be worth it both for the knowledge that we would gain and for diminishing the numbers of Dark Jedi Diabolis has to throw at it. We've all heard the intel reports. They've been kidnapping force sensitive people from their homes and forcing them into training as Dark Jedi."

Galen looked over at Kanan. The blind Jedi Master shrugged. "I'll go with them. Ezra and Ferroda will come with us. Hera and Chopper will come too and we can take the _Ghost_. As to what team we can take with us, I just heard earlier today from General Cracken that Inferno is back home. I'd be willing to bet that we could convince Commander Versio to lend us a hand."

Luke smiled in satisfaction. "Excellent! When do we leave?"

Kanan shrugged and pulled his comlink. "No reason to wait. We'll say our goodbyes to whomever and meet at the Imperial Palace's main hanger bay."

"Be careful;" said Galen, "and may the force be with you."

"May the force be with us all;" replied Kanan before thumbing his comlink. "Hello, dear. Fancy a trip in the _Ghost_?"


	9. Chapter 9: A Face from the Past

**Coruscant - The Imperial Palace**

Admiral Drayson blinked at the request being made by the four Jedi registered. "You want Inferno to go with you? May I ask why?"

"Honestly?" said Kanan with a wry smile, "We're pretty sure it's a trap and we want to have some very skilled backup; just in case we may happen to be right."

Drayson's eyes widened and then he shook his head. "You Jedi make absolutely zero sense. But I learned to trust you awhile ago. I'll get Commander Versio up here and see what she has to say."

He pulled his comlink and spoke into it while Luke looked at his four companions. Kanan was wearing a set of traditional tan and brown robes while Ferroda still wore old Alliance fatigues, complete with name badge and Grey Squadron designation patch. Ezra was wearing a set of Beskr'gam, that is armor made of Mandalorian iron in the style of the clans of Mandalore. It was painted to be camouflaged in the desert, with tans and browns and off-whites, over which he wore a long camouflaged coat. On his belt was a blaster and his lightsaber. "That armor is going to slow you down, Ezra;" said Luke.

"Maybe a little;" said the black-haired Jedi Knight with a cocky smirk. "But they won't be cutting through it, that's for sure."

Kanan chuckled and said, "You've always like your armor and weapons, haven't you?"

"What can I say?" chuckled Ezra.

"So long as it doesn't get in the way of your Ataru;" said Kanan with a shrug.

Just then, a woman in an officer's uniform with black hair in a perfect military bun strode through the door. With a broad grin, she hurried over and said, "Generals! It's great to see you again! Admiral Drayson says you have a mission to run and want some extra talent."

Luke gave her a quick hug and said, "That's right, Iden. We're headed to Raxus Prime to spring a trap set by Darth Diabolis or at least a couple of his Dark Jedi. Interested in joining?"

Iden shrugged and said, "Eh... sure. Inferno has nothing better to do. Will we be taking the _Corvus_ or one of your ships?"

"We'll be taking Hera Syndulla's ship, the _Ghost_. I've a feeling we'll need its detachable fighter/shuttle when we get to Raxus Primes."

"Sounds good;" said Iden Versio. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as Hera has the ship ready. I'd have your crew gear up. Where that special junk-patterned camouflage fatigues;" said Ezra.

Iden hugged him with a chuckle and said, "I've missed your sense of humor, kid. I'm liking that armor too."

She turned back to them and said, "I'll get in contact with the others and we'll meet you over at the Castle. Do you think we'll need special equipment?"

They all looked around before Luke said, "I'll talk to Galen before we depart and ask him. He'd know better than I would. If there is anything, I'll let you know as soon as I hear."

"We'll check on Hera;" said Kanan, grabbing Ezra by the shoulder and ushering him towards the exit.

Ferroda said, "I'll go with Iden. It'll be good to see the rest of Inferno again."

Luke nodded distractedly as he grabbed his comlink and put in Galen Marek's frequency. It was only a moment before the Jedi Master picked up. "What's up, Luke?"

"Inferno Squad wants to know about extra equipment for Raxus Prime. Any advice?"

There was a long pause before he said, "Not really. Artificial gravity generators have been put in by the New Republic, as have those massive atmospheric scrubbers and air purifiers. It should be a great deal cleaner than when I was there because of that."

Luke nodded. "Right. Thanks, Galen."

"Be careful, Luke. May the force be with you."

Luke smiled, "And with you, Starkiller."

The master chuckled before cutting the comms.

* * *

 **Aboard the _Lady Luck_**

When they dropped out of hyperspace, Lando woke Han with the intercom. Neither of them knew where they were. As he went to the bridge of the ship, Han asked, "Where's Irenez?"

"She's gone to the aft control station," Lando told him. "I got the impression she wanted to be able to send down some recognition codes without us looking over her shoulder."

Han snorted. "Any idea where we are?"

"Not really," Lando said, "Transit time was forty-seven hours but that doesn't tell us a whole lot."

Han nodded, contemplating their situation. "A Dreadnought can pull, what, about Point Four?"

"About that, when it's really in a hurry, anyway."

"Mean's we aren't more than a hundred fifty light-years from New Cov, then;" considered Han.

Lando lifted a finger. "I'd guess we're closer than that, myself. It doesn't make sense to use New Cov as a contact point if they were that far away."

"Unless New Cov was the Bothan's idea and not theirs."

"Possible;" Lando conceded. "I still think were closer than a hundred and fifty light-years, though. They could have taken their time getting here just to mislead us."

"Or to have time to organize a reception committee;" said Han, glancing up at the Dreadnought above them.

"There's that too;" said Lando with a nod. "I don't know if I mention it, but after they apologized for getting the magnetic coupling off-center over our hatch, I went back and took a look."

"You didn't mention it;" growled Han, "but I did the same think. Looked kinda deliberate, didn't it?"

"That's what I thought too;" nodded Lando. "Like maybe they wanted an excuse to keep us cooped up down here and not wandering around their ship."

They both glowered in agitation, wondering on the many innocent or less-than-innocent reasons for their 'hosts' to keep them locked away in the _Lady Luck_.

The comms crackled. " _Lady Luck_ , this is Sena," a familiar voice said. "We've arrived."

"Yes, we noticed;" Lando said, still a little sourly, "I expect you'll want us to follow you down."

"Right;" she said, "The Peregrine will drop the magnetic coupling whenever you're ready to fly."

Han visibly stiffened at the name _Peregrine._ It took Lando several tried to shake him out of his stupor. "You still with me?"

Han blinked and shook himself slightly. "Yeah. Sure. It's just - that name, _Peregrine_ , rang an old bell. It's from an old Corellian legend they used to tell the kids. Some old ghost guy had been cursed to wander around the world forever, never to find him home again. It always gave me the creeps."

Just then, there was a clang and the ship jolted, announcing their separation from the Dreadnought. Lando took the controls and eased them away. "Well, try to remember it was just a legend."

"I know that;" said Han rather quickly.

They followed Sena's freighter downward, skimming low over the surface of the planet until they came over a wall of craggy cliffs. Just on the other side, they came upon a well hidden, well laid out and well fortified base. Living quarters, admin structures, supply sheds, maintenance buildings, tool buildings and a massive, camouflage-covered refurbishing hanger. All around were strategically placed anti-infantry batteries and anti-armor batteries as well. Last but not least, in perfect defensive positions, KAAC Freerunner assault vehicles were parked in emplacement groups.

Seeing all of it, Han and Lando came to the conclusion that they didn't like it, but with three Dreadnoughts in orbit above them, cutting and running for it wasn't an option. Carefully, they landed beside the freighter and disembarked, Irenez close behind them. Sena and her people from the freighter were waiting for them. For the most part, they were dressed in tan uniforms of a vaguely Corellian style while Sena was still in her nondescript civilian garb.

Waving her hand towards the base, Sena said, "Welcome to our base of operation. If you'll come with us, the Commander is waiting to meet you."

Han continued to look around, commenting as he did. "Busy looking place you've got here. You getting ready to start a war or something?"

As they boarded a skiff, Sena replied coolly, "We aren't in the business of stating wars."

Lando frowned and said, "You know, this place looks a lot like one of the old Alliance basses we used to work out of, only built on the surface instead of dug in underground."

Sena only reply was a noncommittal, "It's does look that way, doesn't it?"

"You've had dealings with the Alliance, then?" Lando pressed gently.

He didn't get an answer and Han and Lando shrugged at one another. Clearly they weren't going to be able to weasel any info out of them.

The skiff came to a halt beside an admin-type building indistinguishable from the other, with the only exception being that their were two armed and uniformed guards outside the doorway. They both saluted Sena smartly as she approached and one of them hit the door activator. "The commander asked to see you for a moment alone, Captain Solo," she said, "We'll wait out here with General Calrissian."

Han nodded and entered, surprised to find himself in a fully equipped war room rather than the comfy executive offices he was expecting. There were comm and tracking consoles and at least one crystal grav-field tracking receptor and the controls for a v-150 Planet Defender ion cannon as well - one like the Alliance had back on Hoth or the Imperial city on Coruscant had used. A star map showed one sector or another with vector lines and varying markers among the glittering white stars. Standing beside that holo was a man - a familiar man.

Even with his face discolored by the lights from the holo and the diplays, and even though Han had only ever seen holos and flat stills of it, he recognized immediately. "Senator Bel Iblis!"

"Welcome to Peregrine's Nest, Captain Solo," said the other, turning from the holo and proffering his hand. "I'm flattered you still remember me."

"It'd be hard for any Corellian to forget you, sir;" said Han, shaking it firmly. "But you-"

"Were dead?" said the Bel Iblis with a sardonic half smile.

"Well, yes; I mean, everyone thought you died on Anchoron."

A shadow seemed to fall over Garm Bel Iblis's face. "In a very real sense, I did. The Emperor wasn't quite able to kill me at Anchoron, but he might just as well have done so. He took everything I had except my life: my family, my profession, even all future contact with mainstream Corellian society. He forced me outside the law I worked so hard to create and maintain."

That sardonic grin returned. "He force me to become a rebel. I imagine you understand the feeling."

"Pretty well, yea," said Han with his own lopsided grin. "I still can't believe this. I wish we'd known sooner - we could really have used this army of yours during the war."

For just a second, the shadow seemed to cross Bel Iblis's face again. "We probably wouldn't have done much to help. It's taken a good deal of time to build up to what you see here."

And just like that, his smile returned. "Nut there'll be time to talk about that later. Right now, I see you standing there trying to figure out exactly when it was we met."

Han had forgotten all about that. "To tell you the truth, I haven't got a clue. Unless it was after Anchoron and you were in disguise or something."

"No disguise; but it wasn't something I'd really expect you to remember. I'll give you a hint: you were all of eleven at the time."

Han blinked, his brow furrowed. "Eleven? You mean in school?"

"Correct - Literally correct, in fact. It was at a convocation at your school, where you were being force to listen to a groups of us old fossils talk about politics."

Han could feel himself blushing slightly. That summed up how he had felt about politics - or in some cases, still felt about politics. "I'm sorry, I still don't remember."

"I do;" chuckled Bel Iblis. "You asked me two very pointed questions - questions I wouldn't expect from an eleven year old: the first regarding the ethics of anti-alien bias starting to creep into the legal structure of the Republic and the second about some very specific instances of corruption involving my colleagues in the senate."

Slowly, the memory began to come back to Han and he blushed even more deeply. "I think one of my friends dared me to throw those questions at you. He probably figured I'd get in trouble for not being polite. I was in trouble enough that it didn't bother me."

"Setting your life pattern early, were you?" asked Bel Iblis dryly, "At any rate, your questions intrigued me enough to ask about you. I've been keeping a somewhat loose eye on you ever since."

Han nodded slowly and looked around. "So how long have you been here at- you called it Peregrine's Nest?"

"Oh we never stay anywhere very long;" replied the Senator.

He took Han by the shoulder and gently but firmly ushered him toward the door. "But right now, I'll bet you friend outside is probably getting nervous. Come introduce me to him."

Bel Iblis was right. Lando did indeed look tense as Han and Bel Iblis stepped into the sunlight again. "It's alright;" Han reassured him. "We're with friends. Senator, this is Lando Calrission - former general in the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic. Lando, this is Senator Garm Bel Iblis."

"Senator Bel Iblis;" said Lando, clearly not recognizing the name.

"Honored to meet you, General Calrissian," said Garm. "I've heard a great deal about you."

"Just Calrissian;" said Lando, shooting Han a glance. "The general is more a courtesy title now."

"Then we're even;" said Bel Iblis with a smile. "I'm not a senator anymore either."

Motioning to Sena, he said, "You've already me my chief adviser and unofficial ambassador-at-large Sena Leikvold Midnayl. And-" he paused with a frown, looking around. "I understood Irenez was with you."

"She was needed back at the ship, sir;" answered Irenez; "Our other quest required some soothing."

"Yes; Council-Aide Breil'lya. This could prove somewhat awkward;" said Bel Iblis with a sigh.

"Yes sir," replied Sena, "Perhaps I shouldn't have brought him here, but at the time I didn't see any other reasonable course of action."

"Oh I agree;" said Bel Iblis, "Leaving him in the middle of an Imperial raid would have been more than simply awkward."

Han remember then what had taken them to New Cov in the first place. As carefully as possible, he said, "You see to be on good terms with Beil'lya, Senator."

Bel Iblis eyed him knowingly. "And you'd like to know what those good terms entail?"

"As a matter of fact, sir... yes, I would."

The other smiled slightly. "You still have that underlying refusal to flinch before authority, don't you? Good. Com on over the the headquarters lounge and and I'll tell you everything you want to know;" suddenly, Bel Iblis's smile took on an edge to it. "And after that, I'll have some questions of my own."

* * *

 **Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer _Chimaera_**

With a hiss, the door slid open and Pellaeon stepped into the darkened antechamber of the of Thrawn's private meditation and command room. The room, of course, appeared empty but the Imperial Captain knew better than that. "I have important information for the Grand Admiral;" he announced loudly. "I don't have time for these little games of yours."

"They are not games," Rukh's gravelly voice mewed right in Pellaeon's ears, causing him to jump despite his attempts not to. "Stalking skills must be practiced or lost."

Pellaoen, irritated that the little creature had gotten to him, growled, "Practice on someone else. I have work to do."

He entered the main command room and paused. It was dark in there, lit only by many tiny lights, almost like candles. Upon a closer look, he realized that they were tiny, in fact, holograms of intricate lighted sculptures. "Beautiful, aren't they?" murmured Thrawn. "They're Corellian flame miniatures, one of that very short list of art forms which other have tried to copy but never truly been able to duplicate. Nothing more than shaped transoptical fibers, psuedoluminescent plant materials, and a pair of Goorlish light sources, really; and yet, somehow, there's something about them that's never been captured by anyone else."

The holographic flames faded away, and in the center of the room a frozen image of three Dreadnought cruisers appeared. "This was taken by the _Relentless_ two days ago off the planet New Cov, Captain," Thrawn continued in the same contemplative tone. "Watch them closely."

As they watched, Pellaeon was barely able to make out what might have been a small pleasure yacht through the storm of ion cannon fire. When the Dreadnoughts had withdrawn and the recording had ended, Thrawn glanced at him. "Comments?"

"Looks like our old friends are back;" stated the Captain. "A nuisance, especially right now."

"Unfortunately, indications are that they're about to become more than just a nuisance;" said Thrawn, his voice still reflective. "One of the two ships they were rescuing was identified by the _Relentless_ as the _Lady Luck_. With Han Solo and Lando Calrissian aboard."

Pellaeon frowned. "Solo and Calrissian? But they were supposed to go to the Palanhi system."

"Yes;" said the grand Admiral. "An error on my part. Obviously, something more important came up than their concerns for Ackbar's reputation."

Pellaeon looked at the hologram of the firing Dreadnoughts again. "Such as adding new strength to the Rebellion's military."

"I don't think they've merged quite yet," Thrawn said, his forehead furrowed with thought. "Nor do I believe such an alliance is inevitable. That was a Corellian leading the force, Captain - I'm sure of that now. And there are only a few possibilities as to just who that Corellian might be."

In Pellaeon's mind, a stray memory clicked. "Solo's if Corellian, isn't he?"

"Yes; one reason I think they're still in the negotiation stage. If their leader is who I suspect, he might well prefer sounding out a fellow Corellian before making any commitment to the Rebellion's leaders."

Just then, Thrawn's comlink pinged. "Admiral Thrawn, we have the contact you requested with the _Relentless_."

"Thank you," Thrawn said, tapping the switch that connected him. In front of the double circle of repeater displays, a three-quarter-sized hologram of an elderly Imperial officer appeared, standing next to what appeared to be a detention block control board. "Grand Admiral Thrawn;" the image said, nodding gravely.

"Good day, Captain Dorja. You have the prisoner I asked for?"

"Right here, Sir;" Dorja said.

He glanced to the side and gestured. Into view came a rather bulky human, his hands shackled in front of him, his expression studiously neutral behind his neatly trimmed Beared. "His name's Niles Ferrier," said Dorja, "We pick him and his crew up during the raid on New Cov."

"The raid from which Skywalker and Calrissian escaped," Thrawn said.

The Grand Admiral shifted his attention to Ferrier. "Captain Ferrier, our record indicate that you specialize in spaceship theft. Yet you were picked up on New Cov with a cargo of biomolecules aboard you ship. Would you care to explain?"

Ferrier shrugged minuscule. "Palming ships isn't something you can do every day," he said. "It takes opportunities and planning. Taking the occasional shipping job helps make ends meet."

"You're aware, of course, that the biomolecules were undeclared."

"Yes, Captain Dorja told me that," Ferrier replied with just the right mixture of astonishment and indignation. "Believe me, if I'd know I was being made a party to such cheating against the Empire-"

"I presume you're also away;" Thrawn cut him off coolly, "that for such actions I can not only confiscate your cago, but also your ship."

Ferrier was aware of that, all right. Pellaeon could see it in the pinched look around his eyes. "I've been very helpful to the Empire in the past, Admiral;" he said evenly. "I've smuggle in loads of contraband from the New Republic, and only recently delivered three Sienar patrol ships to your people."

"If you're trying to suggest we owe you for past kindnesses, don't bother. However... there may be a way for you to pay back this new debt. did you happen to notice the ships attacking the _Relentless_ as you were trying to sneak away from the planet?"

"Of course I did," Ferrier said, a touch of wounded professional pride creeping into his voice. "They were Rendili StarDrive Dreadnaughts. Old ones, by the look of them, but spry enough. Probably undergone a lot of refitting."

"They have indeed." Thrawn smiled ever so slightly. "I want them."

It took Ferrier a handful of seconds for the offhanded sounding comment to register. When it did, his mouth dropped open. "You mean... _me_?"

"Do you have a problem with that?" Thrawn asked Coldly.

"Uh... Admiral, with all due respect-"

"You have three standard months to get me either those ships or else their precise lcation," said Thrawn, cutting him off. "Captain Dorja;"

Dorja stepped forward again. "Sir."

"You will release Captain Ferrier and his crew and supply them with an unmarked Intelligence freighter to use. Their own ship will remain aboard the _Relentless_ until they've completed their mission."

"Understood;" said Dorja.

Thrawn cocked a blue-black eyebrow. "One more thing, Captain Ferrier. On the off chance that you might feel yourself tempted to abandon the assignment and make a run for it, the freighter you'll be given with be equipped with an impressive and totally unbreakable doomsday mechanism. With exactly three standard months set on its clock. I trust you understand."

Above his beard, Ferrier's face was pale and through stiff lips, he managed to answer, "Yes;"

"Good;" said Thrawn before looking back at Dorja. "I leave the details in your hand, Captain. Keep me informed of any developments."

He tapped a switch and the hologram faded away. "As I said, Captain," Thrawn said, turning to Pellaeon. "I don't think an alliance with the Rebellion is necessarily inevitable."

"If Ferrier can pull it off," Pellaeon said doubtfully.

"He has a reasonable chance;" Thrawn assured him. "After all, we have a general idea ourselves of where they might be hidden. We just don't have the time and manpower at the moment to properly root them out. Even if we did, a large-scale attack would probably end up destroying the Dreadnaughts, and I'd rather capture them intact."

"Yes, sir," Pellaeon said grimly. The word _capture_ had reminded him of why he'd come here in the first place. "Admiral, the report on Khabarakh's ship has come in from the scanning team."

He held the data card over the double display circle. For a moment, Thrawn's glowing eyes burned into Pellaeon's face, as if trying to read the reason for his subordinate's obvious tension. Then, wordlessly, he took the data card from the captain's hand and slid it into his read. Pelaeon waited, tight-lipped, as the Grand Admiral skimmed the report.

Thrawn reached the end and leaned back in his seat, his facial expression unreadable. "Wookiee hairs;" he said.

"Yes, sir;" Pellaeon nodded. "All over the ship."

Thrawn was silent for another few heartbeats. "Your interpretation?"

Pellaeon braced himself. "I can only see one, sir. Khabarakh didn't escape from the Wookiees on Kashyyyk at all. They caught him... and then let him go."

"After a month of imprisonments - and interrogation."

"Almost certainly;" agreed Pellaeon. "The question is, what did he tell them?"

"There's one way to find out." Thrawn tapped on the comm. "Hangar bay, this is the Grand Admiral. Prepare my shuttle; I'm going to the surface. I'll want a troop shuttle and double squad of stormtroopers ready to accompany me, plus two flights of Scimitar assault bombers to provide air cover."

He got an acknowledgement and keyed off. "It may be, Captain, that the Noghri have forgotten where their loyalties lie," he told Pellaeon, standing up and stepping around the displays. "I think it's time they were reminded that the Empire commands here. You'll return to the bridge and prepare a suitable demonstration."

"Yes, sir;" Pellaeon hesitated. "Do you want merely a reminder and not actual destruction?"

Thrawn's eyes blazed. "For the moment, yes," he said, his voice icy. "Let them all pray I don't change my mind."


	10. Chapter 10: Discord and Deception

**Orbit over Raxus Prime - Aboard the VCX-100 Light Freighter** ** _Ghost_**

The _Ghost_ dropped out of hyperspace and immediately, the detachable fighter/shuttle _Phantom II_ disconnected and launched, carrying the five members of Inferno Squad and Ferroda Grey with them. The _Ghost_ waited so that Inferno had the time to get towards their position before Luke, Kanan and Ezra would be dropped off to theirs. "Will you need my help?" asked Hera from the pilot's seat.

"We should be alright, Dear;" said Kanan as he stood and headed towards the exit ramp. "Head up to the orbital station and wait for our call for a pick up."

She followed and hugged all three of them. "You boys be careful;" she said. "We can't afford to lose any of you. That goes double for me."

Luke patted her shoulder. "We'll be alright, Hera."

The ramp lowered disembarked and Ezra slid his Mandalorian helmet over his head. Luke was wearing a standard black tunic, one of his regular outfits, and Kanan was wearing a tradition set of Jedi robes. All around them were heaps and piles of junk. There was no biological waste to speak of but other than that, every kind of trash, flotsam and jetsam could be found. Mountains of metal and plastic scraps, rivers of toxic fluids of who knew what concoction and whole ships just lying have or mostly buried by the wreckage. Right where they had landed, an Imperial-class Star Destroyer could be seen where it had crashed, driven into the ground by gravity or some other force, and gouging a furrow into the toxic landscape. "Are we sure the air is clean to breath?" asked Ezra, his voice sounding tinny through his helmet.

Luke had pulled a scanner from his belt and was awaiting the results. When he got them, he winced, "Well we won't die immediately but getting ourselves looked over wouldn't hurt. The atmospheric scrubbers are doing a remarkable job but those rives and lakes of toxic who-knows-what can't be completely countered."

"Use the force to filter the air in front of you;" said Kanan. "If properly applied, it can be used to allow only breathable atmosphere in and keep everything else out."

Luke widened his eyes. "You don't say? That's a new one. How do I do it?"

Kanan showed him the technique and, once Luke had gotten the hang of it, he was surprised when the air smelled less like a chemical lab. "Okay, according to the coordinates that intelligence got, the location of the artifacts are a kilometer and a half to the north and slightly to the east;" said Luke, pointing towards the gorge that a Star Destroyer had gouged out of the junk-scape.

"That could explain why Galen didn't sense it before. The first time, the force was to strong in the area around, drowning out the signature from the relics and the second, I would guess that he was too busy yanking Star Destroyers out of the sky."

Luke laughed as they began to make their way through the valleys and hills of trash, shaking his head in amusement. Kanan's smile was just as amused. "What's so funny?"

Luke was about to answer when he looked at the Jedi master and noted the amusement in his eyes as well. After a second look at the Star Destroyer, and after remembering that the gravity field had originally been inconsistent, he realized that there was no way a Star Destroyer would have gouged so deeply into the landscape. "You mean that Galen did _that_?" he asked in disbelief.

"Has he never told you the story? Did Rahm ever tell you the story?"

Luke shook his head. "No, never;"

Kanan chuckled. "Well neither of us really can either. We were still just a single rebel cell on Lothol at the time. Anyway, apparently there used to be an Imperial Engineering Corporation's Star Destroyer shipyard in orbit and a facility down here that would take the junk and wreckage, refine it and fire it into space with a repulser cannon where it would be gathered and used on the Star Destroyer."

"Sounds like a more efficient way of what we're doing;" chuckled Luke.

"It had its flaws. For example, the ore cannons was aimed at the dock and a massive commit of ore was fired into the center of the station. The molten metal melted right into the power core and caused a critical failure and a chain reaction. Only that destroyer we see right now escaped the station;" said Kanan.

Luke nodded. "And that destroyer, manned with perhaps a thousand or more construction crew members went down to engage Starkiller. But why?"

"It was a finished destroyer, crewed and ready. They went to the planet below to try and exact vengeance on whoever had destroyed the station. All that they got was yanked out of the sky and into the ore cannon. See that over there?"

Luke noticed it then. What appeared to be just another mound of scrap and wreckage was what was left of a large facility. He let out a low whistle and shook his head. "With that kind of raw power, I can imagine why the Emperor would send his best Dark Jedi after Galen."

Kanan nodded grimly. Suddenly, Ezra stopped and said, "Can you sense that?"

Kanan and Luke stretched out with their feelings and immediately noticed what he was talking about. Hurrying forward, they came to the great trench carved by the Star Destroyer and paused. Below them, four light freighters were landed and a group of beings surrounded something. "Well that's interesting;" said Ezra, indicating the markings on the freighters. "Maybe they are just pirates after all. Those aren't either of the Consortium's marks."

Luke pulled his comlink. "Grey Leader, this is Rogue Leader;" he said, using their old call signs from during the rebellion days, "what can you tell me about them?"

"They're all Bloodscars, Rogue Leader;" came the reply. "Inferno Leader confirms, stating that she ran into them once upon a time. Change of plans?"

Luke thought about it and looked at Kanan. "What do you think, Master?"

Kanan rubbed his goatee before saying, "Well, let's go down there and see what's what before we make any drastic changes. Have Inferno stand by, just in case."

"Stand by, Grey Leader. We'll contact you with any changes. Rogue Leader out."

"Right;" said Ezra. "Let's go greet the locals."

* * *

There were roughly thirty pirates gathered around something when they got to the bottom of the gorge. None of them seemed willing to touch it, whatever it was. Ezra walked boldly into them and asked one of them, "What are we looking at?"

The pirate, a Nikto, looked at him for a moment, studying the signature armor of Mandalorian warriors and then replied, "It's a cluster of cargo crates - old ones too by the look of them. We're watching on them before the boss shows up with a crew of techs. We're hoping that the techs will be able to get inside without risking whatever the contents might be."

"I see;" said Ezra, "well I hate to break it to you all but those are officially being claimed by the Jedi Order with permission of the New Republic."

The Nikto and two of his shipmates turned on him with a frown. That's when they noticed the other two Jedi - and their lightsabers. Slowly, they back away, making space for Ezra, Kanan and Luke. There was many an angry glare at them as they passed through but clearly none of them wanted to engage a trio of Jedi. The crates were old alright - storage containers that hadn't been used since before the Clone Wars. Kanan gave a low whistle. "Those things have to be close to a century old by now. What could possibly be inside?"

"Incredible;" came a voice that was clearly magnified by the force. "You had to know that this was a trap, Jedi. You had to. Jedi artifacts don't just happen to appear on planets with massive facilities and installations on them and especially not on planets that have had numerous facilities and installations on them for decades."

Immediately, three lightsabers snap-hissed to life and the pirates all backed away, some of them running to their ships to power them up. Luke activated a comlink device inside his left ear and said, "Anyone see them?"

It was mere moments before the three Jedi stood alone next to the stack of uncovered crates. After a moment, Ferroda replied, "Yes, we have a decent amount of movement all around your position. I see Sith Consortium troops - four squads of them at least. No ysalamari cages so far and- blast! You have incoming contacts, Luke!"

Luke saw them. A half a dozen hooded and cloaked figures dropped from hills and plateaus of garbage and landed, igniting red bladed lightsabers. One of them threw back her hood a grinned wickedly. "Hello, Skywalker;" said Lady Silri, the former Nightsister-turned Sith Apprentice. "It's been some time since my Lord and I cut down your friends."

Luke gave a tight smile. "Justice will be had, Silri. It might not be today or tomorrow but it will be had. Is this all you brought - a half a dozen acolytes and a few squads of your troops?"

"And all you have is your three Jedi - and your special operations unit of course;" countered Silri as the Dark Jedi began to circle.

Rapid blaster fire began to sound around them and the fight began. Silri activated her lightwhip and attacked. Luke had expected that she would go for him, wanting to impress and please her master the Dark Lord - and he had prepared himself. From his belt, he pulled a second lightsaber - his father's lightsaber.

His Jar'kai was no where near up to the caliber of Galen Marek's but it stood him in good stead against Silri's weapons. Even so, it was a vicious encounter, with the crackling, sizzling weapon snaking in and out and around, directed by Silri's use of the force. Suddenly, it wrapped around one of his blades and nearly yanked it from his grip. But Luke's mechanical hand allowed him to hold tightly onto it and he yanked back, surprising the Sith Witch.

Pulled off balance, Silri used her momentum to get in close and engage him with her standard lightsaber - but that was a mistake. It quickly became evident that the Jedi Knight was a superior swordsman. He used his greater physical strength to batter aside her defenses and, with a surprise blast of telekinetic energy, sent her crashing into a large pile of starship wreckage.

As Silri clamored out of the wreck, hissing as a number of heavily bruised and possibly fractured bones protested her movement, she watched as Jarrus cut down three of her Dark Jedi companions in quick succession - utilizing a fighting style she wasn't at all familiar with. The other, the man in the Mandalorian armor, was using a viciously aggressive style, battering down his opponent who couldn't seem to counter him. Skywalker had managed to engage the other acolyte, skillfully slapping down his defense and stabbing him though the chest. Within moment, Silri found herself alone with two Jedi Knights and a Jedi Master. "Surrender;" said the blind Master. "There's no chance of victory or escape and no need to die."

Silri sneered and cursed in an unfamiliar language. Suddenly, the three Jedi sensed it and turned to face the latest threat. Sith Consortium troops were firing on them from up on a junk ridge.

Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw the Sith Witch escaping but he couldn't afford to try and pursue. The blaster fire was coming to too thick and heavy. Suddenly, the sound of additional fire came in, followed by exclamations from the Consortium troops and the blaster fire cut off. Ferroda and Inferno must have flanked them. "Go help Inferno;" said Luke. "I'm going after the Witch."

He pelted after her, leaping over debris and climbing a low hill of droid parts, Luke saw her sprinting to one of the Consortium's TZ-15 Shuttles. Even though he already knew it was too late, the Jedi Knight bolted after her, only to have the shuttle's laser cannons begin to fire in his direction and force him to retreat. With a disappointed sigh, he returned to his companions.

* * *

 **Honoghr - Village of the Clan Khim'bar**

Leia woke from her slumber to the smell of wood smoke. After a moment of confusion and alarm, she remembered where she was and looked around. She had been lying on a rough pallet inside the Noghri's communal bake house where they had set her up to shield her from the Imperial visitors the night before. Relieved, and just a little ashamed, she stood and changed into a fresh jumpsuit before pulling a ration bar from its case and wrapping. The babies were kicking and she rubbed her belly. "I get it - breakfast time."

She chewed as she took stock of the bake house. The double pallet laid out for Chewie was empty and for just a moment, a thrill of fear shot through her before she could discard it. Stretching out with the force, she could sense Chewbacca outside and his general sense gave no hint of anxiety or danger. She forced herself to relax and trust that the obvious honor of the Noghri people would keep them from turning her over to the Empire or simply killing her. After making sure that her weapon belt settled gently over her swollen abdomen, she hung her lightsaber prominently from it. Khabarakh had seemed to find reassurance of her identity in the presence of it and she hoped that his kin would do likewise. Taking a deep, calming breath and letting go of her anxieties, she stepped out into the sunlight.

Three Noghri children were playing with an inflatable ball outside in a grassy area. Immediately, Leia noticed that their skin was much lighter, almost a grayish white when compared to Khabaraks or the Maitrakh's. She assumed that their color changed with age and smiled. "Hello;" she said.

The children had already halted their game and formed a straight line in front of her and the child in the middle stepped forward and dropped to his knees in an awkward but passable imitation of his people's gesture of respect. In a mewing voice, he said, "Mal'ary'ush;" and a long stream of speech in his own tongue.

Leia smiled awkwardly and said, "I see;" wishing fervently that Threepio was there to help her. She was about to call him when the child spoke again in heavily accented but still understandable basic. "I greet you, _Mal'ary'ush_. The maitrakh waits for you in the dukha."

"Thank you;" Leia nodded gravely to him and his companions.

It was clear that the young Noghri had multiple responsibilities - door wardens and messengers being two of them. "Please escort me to her."

As she followed him, the other two children took up positions on either side of her. Upon seeing it it full daylight, Leia realized that the clan duhka was far for intricate and elaborate. The pillars seemed to be sections of tree trunk that had been shaved of its outer bark. The walls themselves were covered to half-height with carvings of some kind. Again, two Noghri children stood with straight backs at the tall double doors. As she approached, they pulled open the doors for her. With a nod of thanks, she entered.

The interior of the dukha was every bit as impress as the exterior. It was a single open room with a throne-like chair that was two-thirds of the way to the back of the room. In the back to one side was also a small booth-like room with a dark meshed window separating it from the main chamber. Over the center of the room from heavy chains hung a large concave dish. From the rim of the dish, she saw a softly glowing light playing against the conical ceiling.

To one side was a massive carved chart and in front of it sat Threepio and a group of twenty or so Noghri children. Presumably, he was sharing a condensed story of the war with the Empire, much like her had with the Ewoks on Endor. She fervently hoped that the droid would remember not to vilify Vader. Off to another side, in a smaller room, Chewbacca and Khabarakh were engaged in an activity and were intently focused on their hands and wrists. Suddenly, Chewie paused and looked at her quizzically.

Leia nodded reassuringly, encouraging the Wookiee to go back to his activity. Behind her, she sensed the maitrahk approaching. "Lady Vader;" said the elderly Noghri, "I greet you. You slept well?"

Leia smiled courteously. "Quite well;" she said, "your hospitality has been more honorable."

She glanced at Threepio and considered calling him back to his duties as translator. The maitrahk saw her glance and seemed to misunderstand it. "It is the history time for the children;" she said. "Your machine graciously volunteered to tell to them the last story of tour Lord Darth Vader."

Leia nodded slowly. "Yes; it took until the end, but he was finally able to rid himself of the Emperor's web of deception."

The maitrahk's expression was nearly unreadable and her emotions and feelings were nearly so but clearly the elderly Noghri was troubled by something. "Walk with me, Lady Vader;" she said after a pause.

Side by side, they began to walk along the wall where a large elaborate series of carvings were cut. "My thirdson has gained a new respect for your Wookiee;" commented the maitrahk, gesturing towards where they were clearly grappling. "Our lord the Grand Admiral came last eve seeking proof that my thirdson has deceived him about his flying craft being broken. Because of the Wookiee, he found now such proof."

"Yes, Chewie told me last night about gimmicking the ship. I don;t have his knowledge of spaceship mechanics, but I know it can't be easy to face a pair of linked malfunctions the way he did. It's fortunate for all of us he had the foresight and skill to do so;" said Leia.

The maitrahk studied her before saying, "The Wookiee is not of your family or clan and yet you trust him, as if he were a friend."

Leia took a deep breath. "I never knew my true father, the Lord Vader, as I was growing up. I was instead taken to Alderaan and raised by the Viceroy as if I were his own child. On Alderaan, as seems to also be the case here, family relationships were the basis of our culture and society. I grew up memorizing lists of aunts and uncles and cousins, learning how to place them in order of closeness to my adoptive line."

Gesturing to the Wookiee, "Chewie was once merely a good friend. Now, he is part of my family - as much as my husband and brother are."

They had made it perhaps a quarter of the way around the dukha now and the maitrakh asked, "Why have you come here?"

"Khabrakh told me your people needed help. I thought there might be something that I could do."

The maitrahk seemed unconvinced. "Some will say that you have come to sow discord among us."

"You said that yourself last night;" said Leia. "I can only give you my word that discord is not my intention."

"The goal and the end are not always the same, Lady Vader. Now we serve one overclan only. You would require service to another. This is the seed of discord and death."

Leia pursed her lips as she considered the problem. "Does service to the Empire satisfy you, then?" she asked simply. "Does it gain your people better life or higher honor?"

"We serve the Empire as one clan. For you to demand our service would be to bring back the conflicts of old."

They reached the very wall chart that Threepio had been sitting before with the Noghri children. "Do you see our history, Lady Vader?"

Leia studied the neatly carved lines of alien script, noting with interest that they seemed to be cut in patterns that were vertical, horizontal, diagonal and at varying degrees of thickness and depth. After taking in the whole of the chart, she realized that it was a genealogical chart of some kind - either of the whole of the Clan Kihm'bar or at the least of this one family. "I see it;" she replied.

"Then you see the terrible destruction of life created by the conflicts of old," the maitrakh said. She gestured to three of four places on the chart which were, to Leia at least, indistinguishable from the rest of the design. "I do not wish to return to those days, not even fore the daughter of the Lord Darth Vader."

Leia shivered and remembered the thousands of ghosts from her past - those of Yavin, Hoth, Endor and of Coruscant, Dathomir, the Hapes Consortium and a thousand more besides. "I understand;" she said sadly. "I've seen more conflict and death in my lifetime than I ever thought possible. I have not wish to add to that list."

"Then you must leave;" said the maitrakh firmly, "you must leave and not come back while the Empire lives."

They had begun to walk again. "Is there no alternative?" she asked, "what if I could persuade all of your people to leave their service to the Empire? There would be no conflict then among you."

"The Emperor aided us when no one else would;" reminded the maitrakh.

Leia was about to protest that it was only because the Rebellion and New Republic didn't know but it would only be a half truth. Even had they known, Mon Mothma and the other leadership would have not been likely to allocate the amount of resources the Noghri people would need. Even now, they likely wouldn't. Still, she had to offer. "We know now, and we offer you our help."

The eyes of the maitrakh seemed to burn into Leia as the Noghri asked, "Do you offer us aid for our own sakes; or merely to wrest our service from the Empire to you overclan? We will not be fought over like a bone among hungry stava."

Leia's voice grew flat. "The Emperor used you; as the Grand Admiral is using you now. Has the aid they've given been worth the sons they've taken from you and sent off to die?"

The maitrakh was silent for many steps until she answered in a soft voice. "Our sons have gone, but with their service, they have bough us life. You came in a flying craft, Lady Vader. You saw what was done to our land."

Again, Leia shivered. "Yes; it- I hadn't realized how widespread the destruction had been."

The maitrakh sighed. "Life on Honoghr has always been struggle. The land had required much labor to tame. You saw on the history the times when the struggle was lost. But after the battle in the sky-"

A shudder interrupted the matrakh and she didn't resume speaking for a long moment. "It was like a war between gods. We know now that it was only large flying craft bigh above the land. But then, we knew nothing of such things. Their lightning flashed across the sky through the night and into the next say, brightening the distant mountains with their fury. And yet, there was no thunder, as if those same gods were too angry even to shout at each other as they fought. I remember being more frightened of the silence than of any other part of it. Only once was there a distant clash of thunder. It was much later before we learned that one of the mountains had lost its uppermost peak. Then the lightning stopped, and we dared to hope that the gods had taken their war away from us- until the ground-shake came."

She paused as yet another shudder wracked her body. "The lightning had been the anger of the gods. The groundshake was their war hammer. Whole cities vanished as the ground opened up beneath them. Fire-mountains that had been long quiet sent out flame and smoke that darkened the sky over all the land. Forest and fields burned, as did cities and villages that had survived the groundshake itself. from those who had died came sickness, and still more died after them. It was as if the fury of the sky gods had come among the gods of the land, and they too were fighting among themselves.

"And then, when finally we dared hope it was over, the strange-smelling rain began to fall."

Leia nodded, feeling her throat tighten and her gut clench. The whole sequence of events was painfully clear. There had been a battle in the space above Honogr and one of the ships had fallen to the ground, setting off the chain of events that led to the desolation. Any modern or even less modern warships could have carried amounts of chemicals that could have done some damage to the ecology of the world, but it was only older ships, much older ships, that had used the amount of virulent and harsh chemicals to cause that kind of wide-spread destruction.

Older ships had been virtually all that the Rebel Alliance had to work with in the beginning of the war - ancient Separatist cruisers and battleships, Clone Wars era assault ships, cruisers and destroyers.

Another surge of guilt flooded through Leia as the thought flooded her head: _we did this! Our ships - our fault!_

"The Empire's people had a name for what was in the rain;" murmured the maitrakh, "I do not know what it was."

Leia swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. "They came soon after the disaster, then. The Lord Vader and the others."

"Yes;" replied the maitrakh as she waved her hand to encompass the area around them. "We had gathered here, all who were left alive and could make the journey. This place had always been a truce ground between clans. We had come here to try and find a way for survival. It was here that the Lord Vader found us."

They walked along before she picked up where she had left off. "Some believed then that he was a god. All feared him and the mighty silver flying craft that had brought him and his attendants from the sky, and nearly two tens of warriors chose to attack."

"And were duly slaughtered;" murmured Leia. The thought of effectively unarmed primitives taking on Imperial soldiers made her wince.

"They were not slaughtered;" retorted the maitrakh, great pride evident in her voice. "Only three of the two tens died in battle. In turn, they killed many of the Lord Vader's attendants, despite their lightning weapons and rock garments. It was only when the Lord Vader himself intervened that the warriors were defeated. But instead of destroying us, as some of the attendants counseled, he instead offered us peace. Peace, and the blessing and aid of the Emperor."

Leia nodded as yet another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. Now she understood why the Emperor, a xenophobic monster, would have anything to do with a 'sub-human' group of aliens on a devastated back-rocket world. These 'sub-human' aliens had the skill and ability that would certainly peak his interest. "What sort of aid did he bring?" Leia asked.

"All that we needed," answered the maitrakh, "Food and medicine and tools came at once. Later, when the strange rain began to kill our crops, he sent the metal droids to begin cleaning the poison from the land."

Leia winced, freshly aware of her twins' vulnerability. But the analysis kit had found not trace of anything toxic in the air as they approached the village, and Chewbacca and Khabarakh and done similar tests on the soil. Clearly, the decon droids were doing their job very well. "And nothing else will grow outside the cleaned land?" she asked rather pointlessly.

"Only the kholm-grass," said the maitrakh. "It is a poor plant, of no use as food. But it alone can grow now, and even it no longer smells as it once did."

It explained the browned land. Somehow the plant had adapted to the toxic soil all over the planet. "Did any of the animals survive?"

"Some did - those who could eat the kholm-grass and those who ate those who ate it. But they are few. This place;" and she indicated around, meaning the place that the village was in, "was never rich with life, Lady Vader. Perhaps that was why the clans had chosen it as a truce ground. But even in so desolate a place, there were still animals and plants without count. They are gone now."

With a light shake, she put aside the memory and said, "The Lord Vader helped us in other ways as well. He sent attendants to teach our sons and daughters the ways and customs of the Empire. He issued new orders to allow all clans to share the Clean Land, though for all clans to live beside one another this way had never happened since the beginning. And he sent mighty flying craft into the desolation to find and bring to us our clan dukhas."

Looking Leia in the eyes, the maitrakh said, "We have honorable peace, Lady Vader. Whatever the cost, we pay it gladly."

Out of the corner of her eye, Leia saw movement towards the charts and saw that the children were standing and bowing to Threepio. "Break time?" she asked curiously.

"The clan lessons are over for toady," said the maitrakh. "The children must now begin their share of the work of the village. Later, in the evening, they will have lessons which will equip them to someday serve the Empire."

Leia gritted her teeth and shook her head. "It's not right; no people should have to sell their children in return for life."

"It is a debt we owe. How else shall we pay it?"

How else, indeed? Clearly the Empire was quite happy with the bargain they had concocted and, having seen the Noghri commandos in action, she could understand the satisfaction. There would be no other way for the Noghri to pay out their debt and if the Noghri themselves consider the service a debt of honor... "I don't know;" she said, shaking her head and massaging the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

Off to the side, Chewie and Khabarakh were still engaged in their fighter exercise. "You Wookiee has asked my thirdson to instruct him in our fighting methods. Wookiees have great strength, but no knowledge of the subtlety of combat."

Leia couldn't help but smile, thinking that the Wookiees would probably see it a different way. "I'm surprised he was willing to have Khabarakh teach him. He's never really trusted him."

"Perhaps it is the same distrust that whets his interest;" replied the maitrakh dryly.

After watching for a while longer, the Noghri turned to Leia. "You understand now, the cycle of our life, Lady Vader. You must realize that we still hand by spider silk. Even now we do not have enough clean land to grow sufficient food. We must continue to buy from the Empire."

Again, Leia resisted the urge to grit her teeth. "Payment for which requires that much more service from your sons."

Permanent debt, after all,was the oldest form of slavery. "It also encourages the sending away of our sons;" said the maitrakh bitterly. "Even if the Empire allowed it, we could not bring back all of our sons. We would not have enough food."

"You'll never be entirely out of their debt;" she said bluntly, "you know that, don'y you? As long as you're useful to them, the Grand Admiral will make sure of that."

"Yes;" said the maitrakh in a quiet voice; "it took a long time but I now believe that. If all the Noghri believe so, changes could perhaps be made."

"But the rest of the Noghri still believe that the Empire is their friend?"

"Not all believe so, but enough do."

They were silent again before the mairtakh sighed tiredly. "Many would have gladly gone with the Lord Vader, even without our debt, for the joy of traveling among the stars. The Noghri have always loved the stars. One time, we even worshiped them."

"I understand;" said Leia with another, sadder smile. "Many in the galaxy are the same way. It's the common birthright of us all."

"A birthright which we have now lost."

Leia shook her head, looking down at the maitrach. "Not lost, only misplaced. Perhaps if I talked to all the Noghri leaders at ones-"

"What would you say to them?" countered the maitrakh.

It was, unfortunately, a valid questions. What would she say to them? She could tell the truth of course - that the Empire was using them? The Noghri perceived it as a debt of honor. That the Empire was pacing the cleanup job so as to keep them on the very edge of self-sufficiency without ever reaching it? But at the rate the decontamination was going, she would be hard-pressed to prove any such lagging, even to herself. That she and the New Republic could give the Noghri back their birthright? But why should they believe her?

"As you see, Lady Vader;" the maitrakh murmured. "Though perhaps matter will someday change. But until then, your presence is a danger to us as much as yourself. I will honor the pledge of protection made by my third son, and not reveal your presence to the Grand Admiral. But you must leave."

Leia took a deep breath. "Yes;" she said, the word hurting her throat. "I will leave because I don't wish to bring trouble to you or your family. But the day will come, maitrakh, when your people will see for themselves what the Empire is doing to them. When that happens, remember that I'll always be ready to assist you."

It response, the Noghri bowed low and murmured, "Perhaps that day is soon, Lady Vader. I await it - as do others."

Leia was about to inquire on the arrangements to escape Honogr when a Noghri child burst through the double doors and rattled off something in the native speak. "What is it?" demanded Leia.

"The flying craft of our Lord the Grand Admiral;" replied the aged Noghri. "And it is coming here."


	11. Chapter 11: The New Jedi Order

**Honoghr - Village of the Clan Kihm'bar**

For just a moment, Leia stood there in shock, staring at the maitrakh, but then the distant sound of space craft repulsers brought her back to life. "We've got to get out of here." she said, "Chewie-"

"There's no time;" said Khabarakh as he s sprinted over from the other room, the Wookiee on his heels. "The shuttle must already be in sight beneath the clouds."

The dukha had no way of escape other than the main door and no cover except the tiny booth that faced the genealogy chart. "Are you certain he's coming here - to the dukha, I mean?" she asked, knowing that it was a foolish question.

"Where else would he come?" countered Khabarakh darkly, "Perhaps he was not fooled, as we thought."

With another cursory look around the dukha and calculated that there would be a few seconds before the Imperials entered when the rear of the building was out of their view. It would be an easy thing to cut a way of escape with her lightsaber but the problem was hiding the hole afterward. Chewie rumbled a question that was right along her line of thought. "Yes, but cutting the hole is not problem. It's how to seal it up afterward."

The Wookiee pointed to the booth. "The hole will be hidden from view at least. It's better than noting. Maitrakh-"

"If it must be don, then do so," snapped the Noghri harshly. "You must not be found here."

It was clear that she was still gathering herself from being in shock. The look on her face was quite clear and familiar now. It was the same as Khabarak had shown during the trip from Endor - regret at bringing her to Honoghr.

Pulling her lightsaber from her belt, she assured, "We'll be as neat as possible. And as soon as Thrawn is gone, Khabarak can get his ship back and take us away-"

Chewie cut her off with a snarl. Faintly in the distance, they heard an all-too-familiar whine that accompanied the roar of the shuttle. "Scimitar assault bombers;" said Leia, knowing that her plan had just been crushed.

With air cover, trying to flea out into the open would get them caught all the same. "We'll have to hide in the booth."

As they hurried to it, See-threepio called, "Will you want me in there as well, your Highness?"

Leia skidded to a stop and cursed. The maitrakh hissed. " There will not be room. Your presence here has betrayed us, Lady Vader-"

"Quiet!" snapped Leia as scanned the building yet again.

Suddenly, she saw the star dish handing from the middle of the room. "Chewie, we'll have to put him up there. Do you think-"

She didn't even finish her query before the Wookiee snatched up the droid and scrambled up one of the tree-trunk pillars, carrying the protesting Threepio over his shoulder. Reaching out with the force, Leia switched the noisy protocol droid off as Chewie dumped him unceremoniously into the dish. Leia was already looking in the booth. It was going to be a tight fit but they would make it work. With a thud, Chewbacca was on the floor and, in a few quick strides, they were both inside. Chewie was facing forward, his head jammed up against the sloping ceiling and Leia was force to slid in behind him and sit down in the narrow gap between his legs. The booth's door slid shut just as the double doors to the dukha opened. Taking several calming breaths, Leia used the force to enhance her hearing . Immediately, Chewie's breathing became a loud rasp that she consciously tuned out, along with the hardness of the bench and the weight of the two living beings within her. Through the wall of the dukha, she could hear the rhythmic steps of booted feet and the odd clack of blaster rifles against armor. Finally, from the inside of the dukha, she could hear voices.

"Good morning, maitrakh;" said a cool, modulated voice.

Leia's heart began to beat just a little harder. That voice was the voice of Imperial command with the full weight that authority held - or at least held at a point in time not too long ago in the galaxy. But the authority in this cool, cultured voice was easily beyond that of even Grand Moff Tarkin aboard the Death Star as he commanded her world's destruction. This being could only be Grand Admiral Thrawn.

"I greet you, my lord;" mewed the maitrakh, her tone under rigid control. "We are honored by your visit."

"Thank you;" the Thrawn politely replied, but with an unmistakable edge of steel just beneath the surface.

"And you, Khabarak clan Kihm'Bar. Are you also pleased at my presence here?"

Leia quietly tried to ease her head to one side or the other to get a look at the Grand Admiral. After hearing her husband, her sister-in-law and those who had once been a part of the Lothol rebel cell, she was curious to see him. But it was no good. They were still by the doors and out of her line of sight. Soon enough, however, he strode in to the center of the room and fully into view. Thrawn looked exactly as described - tall, with blue skin and glowing red eyes in the dazzling white uniform of an Imperial Grand Admiral. Despite the words and casual dismissals of doubters like Fey'lya that it was simply a moff or fleet admiral using a name to stake a claim to Imperial power, she had never doubted Han, Mara or the others but even so, hearing about this Grand Admiral Thrawn was one thing. To see him in reality, in the flesh and in the white uniform, was something wholly different.

"Of course, my lord," Khabarakh answered. "Why should I not be?"

"Do you speak to you lord the Grand Admiral in such a tone?" demanded an unfamiliar Noghri voice.

"I apologize;" said Khabarakh, perhaps a touch too quickly, "I did not mean disrespect."

Leia winced. Perhaps the young warrior hadn't meant it but the damage was already done. She had only a little time to learn some of the idiosyncrasies of Noghri speech but even so, the words had been to defensive and quick. To this Grand Admiral, who knew the Noghri race far better and had a pension for understanding races and warriors with great clarity...

"What then _did_ you mean?" he asked coolly as he turned to face both Khabarakh and the maitrakh.

"I-" and he floundered slightly for an answer as the Grand Admiral looked on. "I am sorry, my lord. I was overawed by your visit to our simple village."

"An obvious excuse;" said the Grand Admiral, "possibly even a believable one... except you weren't overawed by my visit last night."

One blue-black eyebrow was lifted. "Or is it that you didn't expect to face me again so soon?"

"My lord-"

"What is the Noghri penalty for lying to the lord of you overclan?" demanded Thrawn, his voice suddenly cold and harsh. Is it death, as it was in the old days? Or do the Noghri no longer prize such outdated concepts as honor?"

"My lord has no right to bring such accusations against a son of the clan Kihm'bar;" said the maitrakh stiffly.

The Grand Admiral shifted his hard gaze to her. "You would be well advised to keep your counsel to yourself, maitrakh. This particular son of the clan Kihm'bar has lied to me, and I do not take such matters lightly."

Turning back to face the Noghri warrior, Thrawn commanded, "Tell me, Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar, about your imprisonment on Kashyyyk."

Leia squeezed her lightsaber, the temptation to ignite it and jump out to assist but all that would do was bring even worse and more severe trouble down on the Noghri. Guilt began to creep up her spine. It was on Kashyyyk that they had convinced Khabarakh to let her try and help and now, he and his people were in danger because of it.

"I do not understand;" Khabarakh said, breaking into her thoughts.

"Really?" countered Thrawn. "Then allow me to refresh your memory. You didn't escape form Kashyyyk as you stated in your report and repeated last night to my presence and in the presence of your family and your clan dynast. You were, in fact, captured by the Wookiees after the failure of your mission. And you wpent that missing month not meditating, but undergoing interrogation in a Wookiee prison. Does that help you memory any?"

Leia managed to carefully control her breathing, unable to believe what she was hearing. No matter how it was that the Grand Admiral had learned about Khabarakh's capture, he'd taken that fact and tun in exactly the wrong direction with it. They'd been given a reprieve, brief though it may be. Now if the young commando could just keep his whits about him-

The maitrakh didn't seem to trust his stamina either. "My thirdson would not lie about such matters, my lord;" she said before he could reply, "he has always understood the duties and requirements of honor."

"Has he now?" demanded Thrawn in reply. "A Noghri commando, captured by the enemy for interrogation - and still alive? Is this the duty and requirement of honor?"

"I was not captured, my lord;" insisted Khabarakh stiffly, "my escape from Kashyyyk was as I said."

For a half a dozen heartbeats, the Grand Admiral gazed in his direction in silence. Finally, he intoned, "And I say that you lie, Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar. But not matter. With or without your cooperation, I will have the truth about your missing month... and whatever the price was you paid for your freedom. Rukh?"

"My lord," the third Noghri voice said.

"Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar is hereby placed under Imperial arrest. You and Squad Two will escort him aboard the troop shuttle and take him back to the Chimaera for interrogation."

There was a sharp hiss and the maitrakh tried to protest. "My lord, this is a violation-"

"You will be silent, maitrakh;" Thrawn snapped, cutting her off, "or you will share in his imprisonment."

"I will not be silent;" snarled the maitrakh, and Leia could not help but admire her courage in the face of obvious danger. "A Noghri accused of treason to the overclan must be given over to the clan dynasts for the ancient rules of discovery and judgement. It is the law."

"I am not bound by Noghri law," Thrawn said, his voice deadly cold as steel. "Khabarakh has been a traitor to the Empire. By Imperial Rules he will be judged and condemned."

"The clan dynasts will demand-"

"The clan dynasts are in no position to demand anything;" Thrawn said, raising his voice for the first time and touching the comlink cylinder in his breast pocket next to his rank insignia. "Do you want a reminder of what it means to defy the Empire?"

Leia was poised to end her sensory enhancement, but the maitrakh sighed in defeat. "No, my lord."

Thrawn seemed to study her before declaring coldly. "You shall have one anyway;" and he touched his comlink.

Immediately, Leia ended her sensory enhancement. She was not a moment too soon. There was a muted flash from the distance and then nothing for several long second. Then, in the distance, a rumble could be heard. It was long and low and angry, the sound of turbolaser fire from the orbiting Star Destroyer. Even though it was clearly quite the distance away, it was clear that it was close enough and intense enough that it got the Grand Admiral's point across. When the last rumble had faded, Thrawn spoke in a low, cold voice. " _I_ am the law on Honoghr now, maitrakh. If I choose to follow the ancient laws, I will follow them. If I choose to ignore them, they will be ignored. Is that clear?"

Clearly frightened half out of her mind, the maitrakh answered in a quiet hiss, "yes, my lord."

"Good;" he rumbled.

A brittle silence filled the air until the Grand Admiral said, "For loyal servants of the Empire, however, I am prepared to make compromises. Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar will be interrogated aboard the _Chimaera;_ but before that, I will allow the first stage of the ancient laws of discovery. Rukh;" and he turned towards the third Noghri, "you will remove Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar to the center of Nystao and present him to the clan dynasts. Perhaps three days of public shaming will serve to remind the Noghri people that we are still at war."

"Yes, my lord."

Leia heard the doors open and close and gritted her teeth angrily. From what she could read from Chewbacca, he was equally angered by this. The Rebel Alliance had unwittingly destroyed Honoghr once and now, it seemed that she would destroy Khabarakh.

In the center of the dukha, the Grand Admiral said, "You are very quiet, maitrakh."

"My lord ordered me to be silent;" she countered, just a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Of course;" Thrawn replied as he studied her. "Loyalty to one's clan and family is all well and good, maitrakh. But to extend that loyalty to a traitor would be foolish, as well at potentially disastrous yo you family and clan."

"I have not heard evidence that my thirdson is a traitor;" countered the maitrakh.

Thrawn's lip twitched upward slightly. "You will."

Finally, he turned and strode out the double doors. It was not until they had heard the repulserlifts from the shuttle fading into the background that they came out. They were alone, deep within Imperial territory without a ship or a way to communicate and their only ally was now being taken away. "I think, Chewie;" she said, "we're in trouble."

* * *

 **Coruscant - the Headquarters of the Jedi Order**

Before the _Ghost_ was even on the hanger floor, there was a small party waiting for them. Mara stood there, as did Shara, Ferroda's wife, and several of the Jedi Knights and students were with them. Luke hugged and kissed Mara while Ferroda did the same to Shara. Galen shook their hands and asked how the mission had gone. When Kanan and Hera came down with a hover pallet containing several storage crates and cylinders, his eyes widened. "Wow! Darth Diabolis doesn't seem to mind throwing away artifacts, does he?"

"Well as long as he keeps setting the stuff out there, we might as well take them off his hands;" chuckled Ferroda.

"Maybe;" said Luke. "I think he was expecting something different somehow. Anyhow, it's good to be back. Emma, Barabus! I didn't know you two were going to be back on Coruscant!"

Two of the younger students came over and hugged him. Neither of them was older than sixteen. The young man was a near-human who had stark-white dyed hair with a white and blue dyed face as well. his name was Barabus Gaul and he was born on the world of forest-covered Sarkai. The young woman was also human with rich brown hair and green eyes. Her name was Emma Illana and they had both been found on Naboo and also had a force bond very similar to that which Luke and Mara had.

They had been spending most of the time out on missions with Jedi Knight Kyle Katarn.

Barabas Gaul, the male, was smiling broadly. "We're back for a few weeks. I think Kyle just ran out of things for us to do out there so, here we are."

"We're looking forward to showing you what we've learned;" said Illana eagerly.

"And I'm looking forward to seeing it."

They all headed into the facility. Since they had established the New Jedi Order, or at least had begun the work to do so, Luke and Mara had slowly been taking on new students. First, Mara had decided, after much internal struggle, that she wished to be a Jedi Knight like Luke while they were on a mission on Naboo. They had taught each other force skills that the other did not know and, after that mission was over, began gathering students. Wade Vox they had found on Tatooine while Kyle had been on the mission with them. Ferroda Grey and Keyan Farlander were integral members of the Rebel Alliance military and Leia, of course, was a member of the command structure. So Luke and Mara had begun with those five students - Kyle, Leia, Keyan, Ferroda and Wade. For some time, they worked closely with them, teaching them what they knew and also having them bring skills that they had to the floor in order to help teach their fellow students. Luke and Mara themselves had learned a thing or two from each of them.

During battles with the Zann Consortium and the Sith Lords Darth Diabolis and Darth Heluquin, Mara and Luke had both been captured, leaving their students largely leaderless. During that time, Kyle had disappeared and it wasn't until later they had found that he had managed to stop an Imperial warlord and Dark Jedi master from gaining enough knowledge and power to destroyer the Alliance of Free Planets, which was what the Rebel Alliance had become after the death of the Emperor over Endor.

Kyle had defeated him and his cadre of Dark Jedi and returned to them as fully fledged Jedi Knight. During the rescue mission to save Luke and Mara, they had discovered, much to their delight, that their were other Jedi out there as well. A secret task force sent into the Unknown Regions to lead away an army of Sith assassins had returned, along with Rahm Kota, who was now deceased, Galen Marek, Ezra Bridger and Maris Brood. During that mission, two Dark Jedi who had served under Heluquin and Diabolis were captured and redeemed and the Sith Lord Heluquin had been killed.

After a very difficult and trying time, Mara and Luke began to recover from their ordeal. Shortly after that, the Alliance had taken Coruscant and declared themselves the New Republic. It had, of course, been a rocky start - filled with treachery from supposed allies and attempts by new allies to garner more power than was their due. The Hapes Consortium, after a battle on the planet Dathomir, the loss of Maris Brood and Cariaga Sin, one of the two former Dark Jedi and the Prince of Hapes' attempt to marry Mara, finally became a part of the New Republic. After that, the Hapan man Kondor had been sent to begin Jedi training and two particularly power Dathomir witches Kirana Ti and Damaya had joined the Jedi order, going so far as to move their families from Dathomir to Coruscant.

Barabas and Emma had been found on Naboo shortly after that. It was right after Luke and Mara had left on their honeymoon that Wade Vox, Keyan Farlander and Nisotsa, the other of the two former Dark Jedi, had been sent on a fact finding mission to a reportedly abandoned Imperial research station. It had not been abandoned. What's more the nightmares that they found aboard still often caused the three Jedi to wake up in cold sweats at night. Regardless of the horror, they had been successful and had been given the rank of Jedi Knight for their success.

When the clone Imperial warlord X1 had began his assault on the New Republic, beginning with an attack on the Hapes Consortium to assure they couldn't assist the New Republic, he then quickly consolidated power by putting a base on Dathomir, taking the base on Vjun from another Imperial War lord and claiming the facilities on Mustafar and Saleucami as well. It had taken some time and many good men and women to dig him out. Master Rahm Kota had died and Ferroda, who had once been called X2, faced down his clone brother X1 and killed him. Ferroda was then elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight himself. This brought the number of fully fledged Jedi to ten. It also gained them two promising and already-powerful apprentices in the form of Xesh Dooku and Yirk Windu. They had been made by X1 but had surrendered on Vjun. Ferroda, being a clone himself, had taken them under his wing. Xesh was a handsome man with a curved-hilted green lightsaber and Yirk had dark skin and used an orange lightsaber.

Just over the past few months, a dozen new students from across the New Republic had appeared. The Jedi order was growing in size and, thanks to many different stores of knowledge that had been found, so was the knowledge of those Jedi. Obi-wan Kenobi had left journals for Luke in his hut on Tatooine. During the trap set to capture Mara and Luke, several holocrons, tomes and scrolls with valuable information had been found. During the raid on Darth Heluquin's fortress on Ambria, even more had been found. On Dathomir, a chest of training material had been recovered from the Witches of the Singing Mountain clan and now, a whole new wealth of knowledge had just been sent to them, courtesy of a failed trap of Darth Diabolis.

After greeting the students and Jedi Knights alike, Luke, Mara, Wade, Keyan, Ferroda, Kanan, Nisotsa and Galen went to the room that had been converted into an archive room. Every bit of recorded knowledge they had was kept there. There were several holocrons of different kinds, a sizable number of books, tomes and scrolls and a very large collection of data discs, cards, tapes, cylinders and pads. On one wall was a number of lightsabers they had recovered as well, set on shelves and labeled with who they had belonged to and where they were found, if the information could be obtained.

Going to a table, they looked over the new items. "Do you get an off feeling from any of them?" asked Mara, standing a little further back just in case.

Kanan shook his head. "No, I do not. They seem perfectly benign."

One item at a time, they went through it, identifying what each item was about. Just then, Galen's comlink chimed. "This is Galen;" he answered as he studied a tome.

"This is Chief Blake, Master Marek - Councilor Fey'lya is demanding entrance to the building."

Galen frowned. "Um... what's that now?"

"Councilor Fey'lya is demanding that we let him in to see the Jedi archives to ensure that none of the contents is harmful to the new Republic."

Mara snorted and said, "A great deal of this stuff would be harmful to the New Republic if it were in the wrong hands. Tell him to go inhale fumes."

Luke sighed and said, "I'll go take care of it. He won't take no for an answer unless a Jedi Knight or higher firmly gives him the proverbial boot."

Mara grinned wickedly. "If you'd like, I'd have no problem giving him the literal boot."

"No, Mara;" said Luke, sounding slightly like a father talking to an erstwhile teenager rather than his wife and fellow Jedi Knight. "Stay here and help out the masters."

"When did you stop being so fun;" muttered Mara as he headed out, causing him to chuckle and shake his head.

* * *

Councilor Fey'lya was standing with his hands behind his back with two of his aides and a protocol droid when Luke walked up. "Ah, Jedi Skywalker; are you here to escort me to your archives?"

"With all due respect, Councilor Fey'lya;" Luke said, trying to remain polite and sound reasonable, "the archives of the Jedi are not for public access. They are a private collection and this is private property, despite its use by the New Jedi Order as a living space, training facility and headquarters."

"According to the laws of the New Republic, you are a public organization;" stated Fey'lya, "much like the military or law enforcement."

Luke lifted one eyebrow. This aught to be interesting. "How so, councilor?"

"You are funded by the tax credits of the New Republic, for one thing;" stated Fey'lya. "For another, you are constantly called upon as either military leaders, law enforcement or diplomatic mediators and are dully compensated for your work. Therefore, you are a government asset, not a private organization by law."

"I'm afraid that you are mistaken, Councilor;" said Luke, taking private pleasure at the indignation and vexation the Bothan was clearly experiencing. "You see, we are a private organization. We have not received government funding since we split with the New Republic Military - unless we are called in to assist with military, law enforcement or diplomatic situations. Indeed, it would be far more accurate to state that we are private contractors who often work with the governing body. What's more, since well before the retaking of Coruscant and the reformation from the Alliance of Free Planets to the New Republic, it has been the policy of the Alliances and the New Republic that any and all items that originated with Jedi, Sith or affiliated groups are to be turned over to the New Jedi Order - with appropriate compensation of course. That makes this building, this organization and all the information therein absolutely private."

"During the days of the old Republic, politicians were often allowed to go into the archives to study events that were not well recorded by the senate archives;" countered the Bothan, his voice becoming angrier.

Luke's only became cooler. "You are not a politician of the old Republic, Councilor Fey'lya and this is not the Old Jedi Order - which is why we have not been flying from one end of the galaxy to the other stealing children from their parents. Time's change and we must as well. Now, is there anything in particular that you would like information on? Perhaps if I spoke to the masters about it, they would not mind looking into the event or even bringing out relevant materials for you to study."

"I want to ensure that any knowledge within there is not dangerous to the New Republic or any of its sectors, systems or worlds;" Fey'lya stated loftily.

Luke shook his head resolutely. "I can save you the trouble, councilor. There are many things that may be dangerous to the New Republic - in the hands of a mad force user or Dark Jedi. However, in the hands of the Jedi, it is safe and regulated. I'm afraid that is the best I can do for you right now."

Fey'lya's nostrils flared and his ears flattened. "I will return Skywalker, with an order from Mon Mothma herself, if needs be."

"That would be an illegal order;" stated Luke bluntly. "And if such an order were issued, the Jedi would consider relocating to a world not within the purview of the New Republic. Now, if you will excuse me, my wife is calling me."

Turning on his heel, Luke strode back to the turbo lifts, satisfied to sense Fey'lya and his team storming out the main entrance.


	12. Chapter 12: Peregrine's Nest

**Peregrin's Nest - The Headquarters Building Lounge**

"Tangrene was our real crowning achievement," Senator Bel-Iblis said, draining the last of his glass and raising it high above his head. Across the expansive bu largely empty headquarters lounge, the bartender nodded in silent acknowledgement and busied himself with his drinks dispenser. "We'd been sniping at the Imperials for probably three years at that point - hitting small bases and military supply shipments and generally making as much trouble for them as we could. But up till Tangrene, they weren't paying much attention to us."

"What happened at Tangrene?" asked Han.

"We blasted a major Ubiqtorate center into fine powder;" explained the Senator, clearly very pleased and proud of it. "And then waltzed out right under the collective nose of the three Star Destroyers that were supposed to be guarding the place. I think that was when they finally woke up to the fact that we were more than just a minor irritant - that we were a group to be taken seriously."

Han shook his head in admiration and chuckled. "I'll bet they did. What did it cost you?"

"Amazingly enough, we got all five warships out," Bel Iblis said. "There was a fair amount of damage all around, of course, and one of them was completely out of commission for nearly seven months, but it was worth it."

"I thought you said you had six Dreadnaughts;" said Lando suddenly. He had been mostly quiet the whole time.

"We have six now," Bel-Iblis nodded, "At the time, we only had five."

"Ah;" replied Lando before lapsing back into his silence.

After a very brief pause, Han asked, "So after that was when you started moving your base around?"

After another moment of eyeing Lando, Bel-Iblis answered, "That was when mobility became a top priority, yes;" he corrected. Though we hadn't exactly been sitting still before that. This place is, what, our thirteenth location in seven years, Sena?"

"Fourteenth;" Sena corrected, "That's if you count Womrik and Mattri asteroid bases."

"Fourteen, then;" Bel-Iblis nodded. "You probably noticed that every building here is built of bi-state memory plastic. Makes it relatively simple to fold everything up and toss it aboard the transports. Though that's been known to backfire on us;" he chuckled. "Once on Lelmra, we got hit by a violent thunderstorm, and the lightning strikes were hitting so close to us that the edge currents triggered the flip-flop on a couple of barracks buildings and a targeting center. folded them up neat as a set of birthday presents with nearly fifty people inside."

"That was terrific fun," Sena said dryly. "No one was killed, fortunately, but it took us the better part of the night to cut them all free. With the storm still blazing around us."

"Things finally quieted down just before daylight," Bel-Iblis said, "and we were out of there by the next evening. Ah."

The bartender had arrived with the next round of drinks. Twistlers, Bel-Iblis had called them - a blend of Corellian brandy with some unidentified but very tart fruit extract. Not the sort of drink Han would have expected to find in a military camp, but not bad either. The senator took two of the drinks of the tray and handed them to Sena and Gan and took the other off for himself and Lando. "I'm still good, thanks;" said Lando, holding up a forestalling hand.

Han frowned across the table at his friend. Lando was sitting stiffly in his lounge chair, his face impassive, his glass still half full. His _first_ glass, Han realized suddenly - Lando hadn't had a refill in the hour and a half since Bel-Iblis had brought them there. He caught Lando's eye, raised his eyebrows fractionally. Lando looked back at him, his eyes still stony before dropping his gazing a taking a small sip of his drink.

"It was about a month after Tangrene," Bel-Iblis went on, "that we first met Borsk Fey'lya."

Han turned back to him, feeling a twitch of guild. He'd gotten so wrapped up in Bel-Iblis's storytelling that he'd completely forgotten why he and Lando had set off on this mission in the first place. Probably that was what had Lando glaring crushed ice in his direction. "Yeah - Fey'lya," her murmured, eyeing Bel-Iblis carefully, "what's your deal with him?"

Bel-Iblis gave a thin smile. "Considerably less of a deal than he'd like, I assure you. Fey'lya did us some favors during the war years, and he seems to think we should be more grateful for them."

"What sort of favors?" asked Lando.

"Small ones;" answered Bel-Iblis. "Early on, he helped us set up a supply line through New Cov, and he whistled up some Star Cruisers once when the Imperials started nosing around the system at on awkward moment. He and some of the other Bothans also shifted various funds to us, which enabled us to buy equipment sooner than we otherwise would have. That sort of thing."

"So how grateful are you?" asked Lando, making no attempt to hide exactly what he meant by the question.

Bel-Iblis locked eyes with him and gave a small smile. "Or in other words, what exactly does Fey'lya want from me?"

Lando didn't return the cool smile. "That'll do for starters;" he said simply.

Han glared at him. "Lando-"

"No that's alright;" said Bel-Iblis, his own smile fading. "Before I answer, though, I'd like you to tell me about the New Republic hierarchy - Mon Mothma's position in the new government, Fey'lya's relationship to her, that sort of thing."

Han shrugged. "That's pretty much public record."

"That's the official version," replied Bel-Iblis, "I'm asking what things are _really_ like."

Han glanced over at Lando. "I don't understand."

Bel-Iblis took another swallow of his twistler. "Well, then, let me be more direct;" he said, studying the remaining liquid in his glass. "What is Mon Mothma really up to?"

Han began to feel a hot trickle of anger in his throat. "Is that what Breil'lya told you?" he demanded, his face darkening, "That she's 'up to something'?"

Bel-Iblis raised his eyes over the rim of his glass. "This has nothing to do with the Bothans;" he said quietly. "It's about Mon Mothma. Period."

Han looked back at him, corralling his confusion and attempting to collect his thoughts. In truth, there were quite a few things that he didn't like about Mon Mothma. He hated how she ran Leia, pregnant as she was, off her feet on all of these diplomatic missions and what not and not allowing Leia to attend to her Jedi training. But the truth was, when you came right down to it... "As far as I know," he told Bel-Iblis evenly, "the only thing she's trying to do is put together a new government."

"With herself at the head?" demanded Bel-Iblis.

Han's anger was beginning to return. "Shouldn't she be?"

A shadow of some unidentifiable emotion crossed the former-senator's face and he looked down at his drink. "I suppose it was inevitable;" he murmured quietly. For a long moment, he was silent before looking up and mustering his previous mood. "So you'd say that you're becoming a Republic in fact as well as in name?"

"I'd say that, yeah;" said Han. "What does this have to do with Fey'lya?"

"It's Fey'lya's belief that Mon Mothma wields altogether too much power;" Bel-Iblis explained. "I presume you'd disagree with that assessment?"

Han hesitated, considering the situation before shrugging, "I don't know, but she certainly isn't running the whole show, like she did during the war."

"The war's still going on;" commented Bel-Iblis

"What does Fey'lya think ought to be done about it?" ask Lando.

Bel-Iblis's lips lifted ever so slightly at the corners. "Oh, he has some rather personal and highly unsurprising ideas about the reapportionment of power. But that's Bothans for you. Give them a sniff of the soup pot and they climb all over each other to be in charge of the ladle."

"Especially when they can claim to have been valuable allies to the winning side;" Lando said, all but glaring at the senator. "Unlike others I could mention."

Bel-Iblis waved to Sena, preventing her from saying anything, electing instead to answer himself. "You're wondering why I didn't join the Alliance," he said calmly, "why I chose instead to run my own private war against the Empire."

"That's right, I am;" said Lando, his tone just as cool and calm as Bel-Iblis's

They locked eyes, continuing to measure one another. "I could give several reason why I felt it was better for us to remain independent," he said. "Security, for one. There was a great deal of communication going on between various units of the Alliance, with a correspondingly large potential for interception of that information by the Empire. For a while it seemed like every fifth Rebel Base was being lost to the Imperials through sheer sloppiness in security."

"We had some problems;" Han conceded. "But they've been pretty well fixed."

"Have they?" countered the senator, "What about this information leak I understand you have right in the Imperial Palace?"

"Yeah, we know it's there;" said Han, feeling just slightly defensive. "We have our best assets working on it right now."

"Yes, I know;" chuckled Bel-Iblis. "And no doubt she'll figure it out but this Delta source, if our interception of Imperial communiques is anything to go by, reports directly to the Grand Admiral. Even your... special investigator has her work cut out for her."

Han's eyes narrowed. "How the hell do you-" but Bel-Iblis cut him off with a smile. "Never you mind, Solo. But you don't need to worry about her."

Both Lando and Han were glaring at him now and the former all but growled. "Okay, security. Let's hear some other reasons."

"I'll be more than happy to continue to list them;" said Bel-Iblis, his own countenance hardening. "when I feel the time is right. But right now, I have other duties to attend to. It's getting late and I know you really haven't had time to relax since landing. Irenez has had your baggage taken to a vacant officers' efficiency back toward the landing pad. It's small, I'm afraid, but I trust you'll find it comfortable enough."

He stood to his feet. "Perhaps later over dinner, we can continue this discussion."

Han and Lando were both glaring at him as they stood. "Fine;" growled Han, "and maybe you'll explain how you know who you claim to know."

"That's not for me to tell, Solo;" said Bel-Iblis. "When you get home, you can ask her yourself. I'll need Sena with me, but we'll point you in the direction of your quarters on our way out. Unless you'd rather I assign you a guide."

"We can find it;" Han assured him.

"All right. Someone will come and get you for dinner. Until later, then."

They were probably half way to their quarters when Lando murmured, "You want to go ahead and get it over with?"

"Get what over with?" growled Han.

"Chewing me out for not bowing and scraping in front of your pal the Senator;" Lando replied, "do it and get it over with because we have to talk."

Han kept his eyes straight forward. "You weren't just not bowing and scraping, pal;" he said but there wasn't much heat to his retort. "But he knows a lot about the Alliance and New Republic. Of course, that could be Fey'lya."

"Well I'm glad we're on the same page;" said Lando. "and I'm very interested to know how he knows about Mara. I mean, it's common knowledge that she specializes in investigation and all but he knew pretty quickly that Mara was on this."

"Fey'lya could have told him that;" said Han, shrugging. "You were a little antagonistic though. What was it that had you so irritated before I was?"

"Because he was lying, Han;" said Lando, "or at least, he's not telling the whole truth."

"Your point?" asked Han, "Why should he tell two strangers anything but what he wants to."

"He brought us here;" countered Lando, "why do that and then lie to us about it?"

Han frowned and glanced at his friends face, only just then noticing the tension lines. Something here was seriously worrying Lando. "Alright, what do you think he lied about?"

"The camp for starters;" said Lando. "Bel-Iblis said they moved around a lot - fourteen times in the last seven years, remember? But this place has been here for longer than half a year."

Han looked around at the pre-fab structures - searching for the tell-tale signs of wear at the joints in the memory plastic or at the bases where they met the foundations. None of it was visible. "There are other things, too," Lando sent on. "That headquarters lounge back there - did you notice all the decoration they had in that place? Probably a dozen sculptures scattered around on those ledges between the booths, plus a lot of light poles. And that doesn't even count all the stuff on the walls. There was a whole antique repeater display panel mounted over the main bar, a ship's crhono next to the exit-"

"I was there too, remember?" Han said, beginning to sound irritated again, "what's your point?"

"My point is that this place isn't ready to pack up and ship offplanet on three minutes notice;" said Lando. "Not anymore. And you don't get this soft and comfortable if you're still in the business of launching major attacks against Imperial bases."

"Maybe they decided to lie low for awhile;" said Han, beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable about having to defend Bel-Iblis.

"Could be;" murmured Lando, "In that case, the question is why? What else could he be holding his ships and troops back for?"

Han chewed at the inside of his cheek. He saw where Lando was going with this. "You think he's made a deal with Fey'lya."

"That's the obvious answer," Lando agreed soberly. "You heard how he talked about Mon Mothma, like he expected her to declare herself Emperor any day now. Fey'lya's influence?"

Han considered it. The more Lando talked, the less crazy he sounded - though if Fey'lya really thought that he could stage a coup with six private dreadnoughts, he was in for a rude surprise. But on the other hand, some things simply didn't make sense. "Wait a minute, Lando, this is crazy. If they're plotting against Mon Mothma, why bring us here?"

Lando hissed slightly between his teeth. "Well that brings us to the worst-case scenario, Han old buddy. Namely, that your friend the senator is a complete phony and what we've got here is a giant Imperial scam."

Han blinked in surprise, "Okay, now you've lost me."

"Think about is," Lando urged, lowering his voice as a group of uniformed men rounded a corner of one of the building and headed off in the other direction. "Garm Bel-Iblis, supposedly killed, suddenly returned from the dead? And not only alive, but with his own personal army on top of it? An army that neither of us has ever heard of?"

"Yeah, but Bel Iblis wasn't exactly a recluse;" Han pointed out, "there were a lot of holos and recordings of him when he was growing up. you'd have to go to a lot of effort to look and sound that much like him."

"If you had those records handy to compare him with, sure," Lando agreed, "But all you've got is memories. It wouldn't take that much to rig a fairly close copy. And we know that this base has been sitting here for more than a year. Maybe abandoned by someone else and it wouldn't take much effort to throw a fake army together. Not for the Empire."

"You're skating on drive trails, Lando. The Empire's not going to go to this much effort just for us."

"Maybe they didn't;" countered Lando, "Maybe it was for Fey'lya's benefit, and we just happened to stumble on it?"

"Fey'lya's benefit?"

"Sure;" said Lando, "Start with the Empire gimmicking Ackbar's bank account. That puts Ackbar under suspicion and ripe for someone to push him off his perch. Enter Fey'lya, convinced that her's got the support of the legendary Garm Bel-Iblis and a private army behind him. Fey'lya makes his bid for power, the New Republic Hierarchy is thrown into a tangle; and while no one's watching, the Empire moves in and takes back a sector or two. Quick, clean and simple."

"That's what you call simple, huh?" snorted Han.

"Dealing with Grand Admiral Thrawn, anything is possible, Han."

"Yeah, well possible doesn't mean likely and if they're running a con game, why would they bring us here?"

"Why not?" countered the other, "Our presence doesn't hurt the plan any. Might even help it a little. They us the setup, send us back, we blow the whistle on Fey'lya, and Mon Mothma pulls back ships to protect Coruscant from a coup attempt that never materializes. More chaos and even more unprotected sectors for the Imperial to gobble up."

Han shook his head. "I think you're jumping at shadows."

"Maybe; and maybe you're putting too much trust in the ghost of a Corellian Senator."

They had reached their quarters now, one of a double row of small square buildings each about five meters on a side. Han keyed in the lock combination Sena had given the and they went inside.

The apartment was about as stark and simple as it could be while still remaining even halfway functional. It consisted of a single room with a compact cooking niche on one side and a door leading to what was probably a fresher on the other. A brown table/console combo and two old-fashioned contour chairs upholstered with military gray occupied much of the space, with the cabinets of what looked to be two fold-down beds position to take up the table's share of the floor space at night. "Cozy;" commented Lando.

"Probably can be packed up and shipped offplanet on three minutes' notice, too," said Han.

"I agree;" murmured Lando, "this is exactly the sort of feel that lounge should have had, only it didn't."

"Maybe they figured they ought to have at least one building around here that didn't look like it came out of the Clone Wars;" Han suggested.

"Maybe," Lando said, squatting down beside on of the chairs and peering at the edge of the seat cushion. "Probably pulled them out of that Dreadnought up there."

Experimentally, he dug his fingers under the gray material. "Looks like they didn't even add any extra padding before they reupholstered them with this-"

He broke off and abruptly, his face wen rigid. "What is it?" Han asked.

"This chair;" said Lando, his voice shaking slightly, "It's not gray underneath. It's blue-gold."

"Okay, so?" asked Han with a confused frown.

"You don't understand;" replied Lando, shaking his head. "The fleet doesn't do the interiors of military ships in blue-gold. They've never done them in blue-gold. Not under the Empire, , not under the New Republic and not under the Old Republic - except one time."

"Which was?"

Lando took a deep, preparatory breath. "The _Katana_ Fleet."

Han's mouth opened slightly. "That can't be right;" he insisted, "it's gotta be a mistake."

"No mistake, Han," Land shook his head. Digging his fingers in harder, he lifted the edge of the gray covering high enough to show the material beneath it. "I once spent two whole months researching the Dark Force. This is it."

Han gazed at the age-dulled blue-gold cloth, a sense of unreality creeping over him. The _Katana_ fleet. The Dark Force. Lost for half a century... and now suddenly found. Maybe. "We need something better in the way of proof," he told Lando, "This doesn't do it by itself."

Lando nodded in shock. "That would explain why they kept us aboard the _Lady Luck_ the whole way here. They'd never be able to hide the fact that their dreadnought was running on only two thousand crewers instead of the normal sixteen. The _Katana_ Fleet."

"We need to get a look inside one of those ships," Han persisted. "That recognition code Irenez sent - I don't suppose you made a recording of it?"

Lando took a deep breath and seemed to snap out of it. "We could probably reconstruct it but if they've got any sense, the code for getting in won't be the same as the code for getting out. But I don't think we have to get aboard the ships themselves. All I need is a good close look at that repeater display panel back in the headquarters lounge."

"Okay;" Han nodded grimly, "Let's go get you that look."

It took them only minutes to get back to the lounge. Han carefully gauged pedestrian and vehicle traffic and hoped that the place would still be empty, given the hour. Getting a close look at the repeater display would be tricky enough without a whole bunch of people sitting around with nothing better to do than watch what was happening at the bar.

"What are we looking for exactly?" he murmured to Lando.

"There should be some specialized input slots on the back for the full-rig slave circuitry readouts;" Lando told him. "And there'll be production serial numbers too."

Han nodded, realizing that they were going to need to get the thing off the wall. "How come you know so much about the fleet?" he asked curiously.

"Like I said, I did a lot of studying;" Lando snorted under his breath. "If you must know, I got stuck with a fake map to it as part of a deal back when I was selling used ships. I figured if I could learn enough about it to look like an expert, I might be able to unload the map on someone else and get my money back."

"Did you?"

"You really want to know?" asked Lando wryly.

"I guess not. Get ready, it's show time."

The place was still empty, other than the bar tender. With an easy smile, Han walked casually up to the bar. "Welcome back, gentlemen," the bar tender said cheerfully. "what can I get you?"

"Something to take back to our quarters;" replied Han, giving the shelves behind the man a visual sweep. The selection was excellent. "I don't suppose you have a Vistulo Brandale on hand, do you?"

"I think so;" the bartender turned and scanned the shelves. "Yes, there it is."

"What's the vintage?"

Lando watched, mildly impressed, as his old friend managed to get himself taken to the storage room in the back. As soon as they were out of sight, he went to work. It didn't take a lot to carefully take the repeater display off the wall and there it was - the slave-rig circuit readouts and, on the other side of the display, a serial number from the _Katana's_ production line as well. There was no doubt left in his mind and the shock that had previously warn off hit him again.

Taking a deep breath, Lando carefully hung the repeater display back up. "Find what you're looking for, Calrissian?" a cool voice asked behind him.

Lando froze for a moment before glancing over his shoulder. Irenez stood there, her hand on her blaster but and gazing at him coolly. Suppressing a sigh, Lando sat back and said, "Yes, just satisfying my curiosity - and my suspicions."

"Indeed;" she replied, "and where is Captain Solo?"

"Getting us something to take back to the barracks;" he answered casually, "have you come to collect us for dinner already?"

Just then, Han came out of the storage room with a bottle in hand. The old pirate took everything in at a quick glance, including Irenez.

"Well hello, Irenez," Han said, trying his best to sound innocent. "Funny meeting you here?"

"Not all that funny," she replied frostily. "Sena assigned me to keep an eye on you. Did you get what you came for?"

Lando nodded fractionally to Han's fractional glance. "I think so, yeah;" he replied.

"Glad to hear it;" Irenez growled. "Let's go - outside."

Han turned and handed the bottle back to the bartender. "Keep it," he said, "Looks like the party's been canceled."

Waiting for them outside was an older five-passenger landspeeder. "Inside;" snapped their guide.

They obeyed quietly and there, sitting with uncharacteristic stiffness in one of the passenger seats was Sena Leikvold Midanyl. "Gentlemen;" she said gravely, "sit down, please. Irenez, take the controls and drive us around the camp. I don't care where."

The the speeder rumbled and lurched to life, she commented, "You didn't stay in you room very long."

"I don't remember the Senator saying anything about being confined to quarters;" Han countered casually.

"He didn't. On the other hand, a properly brough up guest should know better than to wander unescorted around sensitive areas."

One of Han's eyebrows lifted and he even managed to keep the majority of his famous sarcasm out of his answer. "I apologize. I didn't realize your liquor supply was classified." He glanced out the window and frowned. "If you're trying to take us back to our quarters, you're going the wrong way."

Sena studied his face for a moment. "I came to ask you a favor."

Han frowned and waited. "I want you to talk to Mon Mothma for me, to ask her and the Council to invite Senator Bel-Iblis to join the New Republic."

Han's frown deepened. Was _that_ why they'd brought him and Lando all the way over here?

"You don't need a special invitation to join up;" he pointed out, "all you have to do is contact someone on the Council and offer your services."

A muscle in Sena's cheek twitched. "I'm afraid that in the Senator's case, it's not going to be quite that easy. It's not so much a matter of joining the New Republic as _re_ joining it."

Han and Lando glanced at each other. "Oh?" Han said carefully.

The woman turned and looked out the window with a weary sigh. "It happened a long time ago;" she began, "before the various resistance groups formerly formed into the Rebel Alliance. Do you know anything about that period of history?"

"Yeah;" Han nodded slowly, "Starkiller and Rahm Kota got the biggest groups together - Corellia, Alderaan and Chandrilla - and convinced them to form the Alliance. From there, they consolidated a bunch of smaller groups and it snowballed from there. This is all public record."

"Have you ever heard the name of that first agreement?"

"Sure. It was called the Corellian Treaty-" and it dawned on him.

"Yes;" Sena nodded, "It was Garm and not Mothma or Organa who wanted to get the ball rolling, as it were. It was he who sought out Kota and he who, after the Rebel Alliance was officially established, wanted strikes against the Empire - meaningful, hard strikes. Furthermore, it was Bel-Iblis and Kota who coordinated the most effective strikes."

"What happened?" asked Lando.

"To put it bluntly, Mon Mothma began to take over. Even though Garm was a far better strategist, even better than the majority of our commander officers in those days, Mon Mothma was far more charismatic - which allowed her to keep such a diverse alliance together. Gradually, she became the symbol of the Rebel Alliance and Bel-Iblis and even Organa were continually relegated to the background."

"And Kota and Starkiller had nothing to say about this?"

Sena shrugged. "They had disappeared, along with an entire task force. I suspect that High Command knew what had happened to them but they weren't sharing that information."

Several pieces clicked into place and Han and Lando looked at each other, confirming their realization. This split Sena was talking about had to have happened after Galen Marek, Rahm Kota and Kanan Jarrus took Task Force Phoenix into the Unknown Regions, leading Darth Vader's Dark Jedi hunters away from the Alliance. This, in turn, had happened right after Yavin and Alderaan. "So;" Han murmured, "Alderaan is destroyed, and Bail Organa is lost. Then two of the other founding members, Starkiller and Kota, are forced to lead some of Vader's vornskrs away from the war and that left Mon Mothma and the Bel-Iblis"

"Precisely;" confirmed Sena, "though I had no idea that's why Kota and Marek had fled."

Lando waved it away, "So Mon Mothma takes more and more power and is more and more dismissive of Garm until, at some point I'm sure, it finally comes to a head."

"Yes;" she replied. "though he never says so outright, I think he confronted her about it and she dismissed him from service."

That was a shock to both of them. "What?" said Han.

"What's more, he let her because he was certain that, as soon as she overthrew the Emperor, she was going to set herself in his place."

"And so Garm took a goodly chunk of the rebellion with him;" commented Han.

"Most of the Corellian rebel forces went with him, yes;" confirmed Sena.

There was a long silence before Lando asked, "Did you hear anything about this, Han?"

"Not a whisper;" replied the other.

"I'm not surprised;" commented Sena, "Would _you_ have advertised a defection by someone of the Senator's status? Especially in the middle of a war?"

"Probably not;" conceded Han. "I suppose the only surprise is that more groups didn't back out like you did. Mon Mothma can be pretty overbearing when she wants to be."

"There wasn't any doubt as to who was in charge during the war either;" Lando added drly. "I once saw her make Admiral Ackbar and general Madine both back down on one of their pet projects when she decided she didn't like it."

Han looked at Sena. "Is that why you cut back on your raids against the Empire? So that you'd be ready to move against Mon Mothma if she turned the New Republic into a dictatorship?"

"That's exactly why;" she confirmed, "We moved here to Peregrine's Nest just under three years ago, suspended all operations except material raids, and started working up tactical contingency plans. And settled in to wait for the Senators triumphant vindication. And we've been waiting ever since."

Han looked out at the camp as they passed through it. After a long pause, he said, "It's not going to happen, Sena."

"I know that;" she murmured. "Deep down, so does the Senator."

"Except he can't swallow his pride long enough to go to Mon Mothma and ask to be let back in. So he get's you to ask us to-"

"The Senator has nothing to do with this;" snapped Sena, cutting him off. "He doesn't even know I'm talking to you. This is on my responsibility alone."

Han studied her for a moment. "Yeah, okay."

They were silent until Lando murmured, "Han;" and lifted a brow, bringing their discovery back at the lounge to the forefront.

"We'll talk to Mon Mothma about the Senator. You talk to us about the _Katana_ Fleet;" said Han.

Sena's face went rigid. "The _Katana_ Fleet?"

Lando nodded. "Where you six Dreadnoughts came from. Don't bother denying it. I got a good look at that repeater display you've got up over the bar in the Headquarters lounge."

"No, I can't tell you anything about that."

Lando's eyes narrowed. "Why not? We're all about to be allies again, remember? Unless you've already promised the fleet to Fey'lya."

"We've promised Fey'lya nothing;" she snapped again. "Not that he hasn't asked for it."

Han grimaced. "So he is trying for a coup."

"Not at all," snorted Sena, shaking her head. "Fey'lya wouldn't know what to do with a military coup if you gift wrapped it and handed it to him on a drink tray. You have to understand that Bothans think in terms of political and persuasive influence, not military power. The typical Bothan's goal is to go through life getting more and more people to listen to what he has to say. Fey'lya thinks that being the one to bring the Senator back into the New Republic will be a large step in that direction."

"Especially if Ackbar isn't around to oppose him?" asked Han.

"Yes, that;s unfortunately another typical Bothan move. A Bothan leader who stumbles is invariably jumped on by all those who want to take over his position. In the distant past the attacks were literal - knives and usually death. Now, it's been modified to more of a verbal assassination. Progress, I suppose."

"What a great group to have as allies;" growled Han. "So before stabbing, do they also help by tripping?"

"You mean the bank transfer?" asked Sena, "No, I doubt that was Fey'lya's doing. As a rule, Bothans don't stick their necks out far enough to concoct plots on their own. They much prefer taking advantage of other people's."

"More like scavengers than hunters."

"Get Ackbar cleared and Fey'lya will back off, since the Admiral won't be vulnerable anymore."

Han groused, "Great, but with Thrawn in charge, we may not have that much time."

"And neither do you;" Lando pointed out. "Mara Jade Skywalker told us a lot about this Grand Admiral Thrawn. He has this instinctual ability to learn about his opponents, figure out their moves and, in many cases, their locations in a ways that we still don't understand. Somehow, he uses the art of a culture to discern everything about them."

Sena nodded. "Yes, psychological profiling through art and deducing strategy from it - Jedi Jade Skywalker warned us about that shortly after Thrawn reemerged in the galaxy."

Again, Han and Lando's mouths fell open. "What?"

"She warned us that Thrawn would be after capital ships and that if we knew where to find the Dark Force, he'd come after us, especially if our dreadnoughts were seen or even rumors of them heard. But no one here, not even the Senator, knows where the dreadnoughts are. They come from a man, who's name I don't know so don't ask, who found them long ago."

"Back up;" said Han, "you said that Mara _warned you_ about Thrawn? How long have you been in contact with the Jedi Order?"

"We haven't;" said Sena, "only with Mara Jade Skywalker. In truth, we've been in contact with her for quite some time now - since before she was Mara Jade Skywalker."

"How did you-" but Sena cut Han off with a gesture. "That's something that only Jade Skywalker and the Senator are at liberty to discuss. Ever since we met, she's been trying to convince us to rejoin and has also been keeping tabs on Fey'lya's power plays and pushes. He isn't aware that she's been in contact with the Senator, you see."

"That does sound like Mara;" said Han, sounding more thoughtful than anything.

"Back to the dreadnoughts;" said Lando, "what _can_ you tell us about this man?"

"What I do know is that all of our meetings are aboard the _Coral Vanda_ , a floating casino and across one of the gaming tables. The staff there know him quite well, though the way he was throwing money around, that may not mean anything."

"The _Coral Vanda_?" asked Han

"It's a subocean luxury casino on Pantolomin;" explained Lando. "Does three and seven day runs through their reefs off the northern continent. Always wanted to go there but, of course, haven't had the chance."

"Well you're about to;" said Han grimly, "I suppose our next question is how we're going to get out of here."

"That won't be a problem;" said Sena, her voice sounding strained. "I can get the _Harrier_ to take you back to New Cov. When do you want to leave?"

"Right now;" said Han firmly. At Sena's expression, he continued, "look, no matter when we go, you're going to have some explaining to do to the Senator. We're in a race with the Empire here - even a few hours might make the difference."

"I suppose you're right;" she replied reluctantly. "Irenez, take us to their ship. I'll make the arrangements from there."

It turned out that there was not need to make arrangements from the _Lady Luck_. Standing outside the ship's ramp, clearly waiting for them, was Senator Bel-Iblis. "Hello Solo, Calrissian;" he smiled tightly at Han and Lando as they climbed out of the speeder. "You weren't at your quarters and I thought you might be here. I see I guessed right."

When his eyes flicked to Sena, his smile vanished and his face hardened. "Sena, what's going on?'

"They know about the dreadnoughts, sir;" she said quietly. "and I told them about our contact."

"I see;" Bel-Iblis said, "and so you're leaving. To see if you can persuade him to turn the Dark Force over to the New Republic."

"That's right, sir;" said Han, his own tone just as cool and grim as the Senators. "We need the ships - need them pretty bad. But not as much as we need good fighters - and good commanders."

For a long moment, Bel-Iblis gazed at him. "Jade Skywalker said something similar to me many times and I'll tell her what I told you - I'm going to Mon Mothma like a beggar, pleading to be let in."

"You left for good reasons;" Han persisted, "and you can come back the same way."

"No;" he said, "Too many people know what happened between us. I would look like an old fool - or like a beggar."

With a sigh, he looked at his base, Peregrine's Nest and he muttered, "I don't have anything to bring, Solo. Once I dreamed of having a fleet that would rival the best inthe New Republic, a fleet and a string of decisive and pivotal victories over the Empire. With that, perhaps I could have returned with dignity and respect. What we have now barely qualifies as a strike force."

"Six dreadnoughts is nothing to sneer at, Senator;" said Lando, "and your combat record speaks for itself. Look, forget Mon Mothma for a minute and think about Galen Marek, Hera Syndulla and the others like them. They'd be more than delighted to have you back."

"The Jedi aren't even a part of the military any more;" Bel-Iblis pointed out. "But I do suppose that it's worth thinking about."

"Exactly, especially with Grand Admiral Thrawn in charge of the Empire;" said Han, "if he catches you here alone, you'll have had it."

The Senator smiled tightly. "That thought had occurred to me, Solo - several times a day, in fact. What's more, Jade Skywalker brings it up with every communique."

"How is it that you two came into contact anyway?" demanded Han.

Bel-Iblis shook his head. "If you really want to know, you'll have to talk to your brother-in-law's wife. The _Harrier_ is leaving in half an hour to take Breil'lya back to New Cov. I'll instruct them to take you and the _Lady Luck_ along."

"Lando, go get the ship ready;" said Han and he glanced at Irenez and Sena. Both of them took the hint.

"Senator;" Han said, "I learned a long time ago that when it comes to the Imperials, especially high level Imperials, doing as Mara Jade Skywalker says is the best course of actions. Swallow your pride and join the fold because right now, you're a thorn in his side. If you don't think that Thrawn is going to figure out what kind of dreadnoughts those are and where they came from, then you take Mara's word for it. You're in graver danger than you know."

Bel-Iblis gazed at him for a long moment before saying, "I'll keep that in mind. It was good to see you, Solo;" and he stretched his hand out.

Han shook it and headed up the boarding ramp.

* * *

 **I'm back! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Gotta say, it's just a little tedious to read and write at the same time, though I love adding the alternate part of my Alternate Universe story.**

 **During my unplanned hiatus, I came across another author who, one day, hopes to be a novelist. At the moment, he's writing a blog at bloggspot dot com. I encourage everyone to go to cyrusking0066 at blogspot dot com (apparently I'm not allowed to write the website down shorthand. It always automatically gets erased). He's a talented guy and while he doesn't write Star Wars, he does have some good stuff.**

 **Anyhow, thanks for reading and please feel free to review and critique.**


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